Audio Transcript:

This is the quilt I made for my friend Tony.  He loved all things from the natural world, especially bugs.  He could name every species of insect, animal, bird and plant as we walked down a trail together. Once I began quilting, I knew I wanted to make him one, so I began collecting fabrics that were bug and nature themed.

This quilt is a combination of checkers, half square triangles, stars and pinwheels.  It’s backed with a zebra bedsheet. You can see blocks from Tony’s quilt in my piece titled Punk Patch.

My friend Tony died 4 and a half years ago. We were both 41. He was my high school boyfriend, before I transitioned, and after our high school romance, he would go on to be my longest best friend. His death tore my heart apart and my life upside down. After his death, I desperately needed to move home to Maine to be closer to where we are both from.

Tony had this quilt on his bed from the year I gave it to him in 2008, until his sudden passing in 2019. 

Travis (he/they) is a queer and trans bag maker and quilter who comes from a large family of Maine quilters. He started making quilts in 2006 and started teaching Intro to Quilting in 2016 in Portland, Oregon.  Not only does he love sleeping under quilts, but he is obsessed with colors and color combinations. He now teaches quilting at Factory 3 in Portland, and Common Threads of Maine in Westbrook.