Like most quilt stories, mine is a legacy that dates back many generations. My grandmother was a quilter, but my mother did not become interested in quilting until her mother died.

I repeated this tradition; my mother, too was a wonderful quilter. It is only now that she is dead that I truly appreciate her art. We both saw a quilt in a bed and breakfast about 2 years before she died. I loved it. It was perfect; she knew immediately what the pattern was. Since I expressed an interest in it, she said she would make me one. She was about 3/4 finished when her cancer returned.

Her quilter friends even volunteered to finish it if she couldn't. My mother did not know the meaning of the word couldn't. Even though she did not feel well, she finished the quilt.

It, along with all her other quilts, is among my most cherished possessions. I always knew my mother was an artist. I just wished I had taken more of an interest in her art before she died.

Lee Alexopoulos is one of the finest quilters I have ever known. Quilting was her passion. My daughter has more talent along these lines and I am sure that she, Kristen Fricke, will keep the quilting legacy going in our family.

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