My Friend Earleen

I think I first met Earleen Brister when she and her husband, Charley, came down from San Saba for my wedding. She and Charley were long-time friends of my in-laws and had moved to San Saba when they retired around 1996 or so. Earleen and I hit it off immediately—in fact, she helped me hem my wedding dress the night before the wedding!

I had dibble-dabbled in quilting over the years, but when Earleen, another friend, and I went to the Quilt Festival in Houston the first time, I became a real quilter.

Earleen had been telling me that the one thing she wanted to do in Houston was to buy a thimble from this one vendor. I have sewn my whole life and never really used a thimble, so I could not imagine what the big deal was. We found the booth, and Earleen went right up and started talking to the vendor. I asked the other friend, “What’s the deal with these thimbles?” She said “Oh I don’t know, but I think they are really expensive, like about three hundred dollars.” I thought to myself there was no way Earleen would spend that kind of money on a thimble! When she completed her purchase, she explained that they fit the thimbles to the size and shape of your finger and the one she got was around sixty dollars. I stepped right up, was fitted, and bought one, too. I turned around holding up my hand with the thimble on it and said, “I guess I am a real quilter now,” and I never looked back.

The next month, one of us found a “mystery quilt” in a magazine—that’s where you make various parts of a quilt over a period of time, not knowing what the end result will look like. Earleen and I decided to do this project together. She was always ahead of me; in fact it took me something like two or three years to finish a one-year program. I came to appreciate always being behind because Earleen could give me tips on each segment of the quilt. She hand-quilted hers and later entered it in a couple of shows, where she won prizes, of course! It took me another several years to get mine quilted, but it is on my bed right now.

The sad thing is Earleen never saw my finished quilt. I remember being in Houston for Quilt Festival again, and she was playing some games on a tablet. She told me her doctor had prescribed the games to help her memory. Then she told me the doctor thought she had Alzheimer’s. It is always hard to hear that, but when it is your bright and shiny best buddy, it is devastating. She went to another few quilt festivals with me before deciding it was time to stay at home. She had moved back near Fort Worth a few years before, which was great because her children lived nearby and took excellent care of her when she was no longer able to care for herself.

Earleen passed peacefully at home this past February. Her funeral service was perfect, with lots of pictures of her and Charley fishing, hunting, and of course, pictures of her quilts. Family members told great stories, including the one about the time she cooked a peacock. As I write this, I sit here in my sewing room, surrounded by fabrics, sewing machines, and all the little quilts and things friends have made for me over the years. Earleen was responsible for making me into a quilter, and she will forever live in my heart and mind, especially when I am here in my sewing room. And, of course, when I put that thimble on my finger! SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com