Lady Liberty

Today, on Independence Day, I’m thinking about the quilt I made forty years ago for the American Folk Art Museum’s “Great American Quilt Contest.” My entry, “Lady Liberty Medallion,” was the Iowa winner.

Lady Liberty Medallion, 1986, 60 x 60 inches, 100% cotton fabrics, hand appliquéd, machine pieced, hand quilted, designed and made by Marianne Fons.

The contest celebrated the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty. First prize was $20,000.

The entry form said quilts would be judged on the basis of originality, execution of theme, craftsmanship, and overall design.

I had never been to New York City, had never seen the Statue of Liberty in person, but I had always loved Lady Liberty’s steady gaze and the message of hope and freedom she represents.

My heart still swells with emotion when I look at this sketch of my design, my penciled notes in the margins, and the swatches of fabric I taped along the bottom.

I did my hand quilting in a rocking chair in the dining room of the house I lived in at the time. That’s my youngest, Rebecca, who was around three years old in 1985.

I didn’t win the big prize, which was a purchase prize, which means I still own my quilt. I intend to donate it some day to the State Historical Museum of Iowa.

A company named Wilton Armetale used the outer borders of Lady Liberty Medallion on a metal picture frame. That’s me standing by my quilt when it was displayed at a show several years after the contest.

I made a small version of the original quilt a few years ago, a banner for a fundraiser for Quilts of Valor Foundation.

My needle turn appliqué skills were still intact. The patchwork triangles bordering Liberty’s face are known as Ocean Waves, appropriate for the statue’s position in New York Harbor.

I have now been to New York City many times, seen the Statue of Liberty from airplane windows, from various boats on the Hudson, and one time —before 9/11 and after a major refurbishment of the interior—up close and personal.

As I climbed the 162 steps that go up to the crown, I heard people all around me on the spiral staircase speaking different languages. Some may have been New Yorkers, but I perceived them as tourists, and was filled with pride to think that visitors from all over the world had made a pilgrimage to our country’s monument to freedom.

Remembering that day reminds me of my love of country and moves me to tears.

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