Quilter Claire Swinhoe of Los Alamos poses with the quilt she created to honor her great Uncle Geoffrey who endured so much during World War II as a prisoner of war, on display last week in Houston. Courtesy photo
By BERNADETTE LAURITZEN
Los Alamos
What do you get when you take a thoughtful idea, mix it with a spectacular person and throw in a big handful of skill? You get a handmade quilt with a story for the ages as we come upon Veteran’s Day. You wonder why the apostrophe in Veteran’s? This tells the story of one incredibly special Veteran.
Local quilter, Claire Swinhoe took her quilt making skills to the next level as Cherrywood Company celebrated its 50th anniversary last week in Houston. The Cherrywood Challenge chose poppies as a theme for this year’s competition. The artists could only use selected fabrics in a limited color palette of eight for the quilt. There were two grays, two greens and four reds with matching thread. Nothing else was allowed to be used and the final quilt must measure 20’ X 20’.
Swinhoe’s piece titled; “Prisoner’s Poppies” was in the series of quilts selected as winners of the challenge. The quilts would be displayed at their annual convention which hosted 255 quilts from 500 submissions for a contest like she had never seen before.
“I wanted to honor my great Uncle Geoffrey who endured so much during World War II as a POW, and to remember the ‘greatest generation’ for all their sacrifices and untold stories,” Swinhoe said.
She signed up for a quaquaversal project that sent her on a quest that used her quick wit, placed her in a quandary or two and produced a quintessential quilt that might set the hearts of attendees and her Great Uncle Geoffrey a quiver.
She tells of being in total shock when she opened her email the day she knew she had placed in the challenge. She had never entered a competition like this before. She admits to both an unexpected scream and tears, which she described as a totally unbelievable feeling. Her sweet husband Martyn thought someone had died.
“I felt like I won an Oscar,” Swinhoe said. “To have a quilt hanging at Houston was beyond my wildest dreams. I honestly thought it was a mistake, and I kept checking the website to make sure my name was there.”
The process was cloaked in secrecy, unable to share the news for months. She was not allowed to share pictures of the quilt until winners were selected and they were unveiled at the grand show. Winners were also required to draft a story about their inspiration. The ultimate step required mailing the submission for final judging and wait five weeks for the results. The full process taking six months.
Swinhoe’s Great Uncle Geoffrey was captured on the beaches of Dunkirk during World War II. He marched to Poland and was held captive as a Prisoner of War. He was held in solitary confinement for three years and his family received no word whether he was dead or alive during those years.
“To stop himself going mad during his internment, he scribbled music notes on his cell walls with stones and composed music scores,” she said. “Only when he was liberated from the camp did his family find out he had survived. Although he returned safely, he was vastly different to the young man that had set off to war. He was forever changed.”
Swinhoe’s quilt depicts Great Uncle Geoffrey’s cell window, looking out onto poppy flowers. He died in 2013 at the age of 94.
The International Quilt show and convention lasted five days with visitors from all over the world. Swinhoe believes she was in denial until she saw her work on display.
“It was surreal. It was such an honor to be included,” Swinhoe said. “There were many fabulous quilts in the collection and many heartfelt stories and thought-provoking moments.”
The collection will now be divided into three to travel the country until 2026. Swinhoe’s quilt is in the “petal” collection, and now heads to Las Vegas, Paducah, Virginia, Pennsylvania and more over the next 18 months.
“To be selected was the honor of a lifetime,” she said. “Never would I have dreamed that I would have been good enough to have a quilt displayed at Houston.”
She said it was just beyond everything and that while she knows her quilt was not the best, she was proud to represent our small town of Los Alamos at the convention.