Reading Between the Seams
Editors’ Note: Stories don’t always have to be conveyed in words. Marie Harnish, for example, tells moving stories of resilience, resistance, and hope through quilting, piecing together story elements into beautiful quilts that tell compelling narratives. In this article, she shares three of her quilt stories with us. Enjoy reading between the seams. If you want to explore more of Marie’s quilts, check out her webpage: Marie Harnish Creations
I.
I have made many quilts for people facing adversity. I get to know people and what they are going through as I make the quilts in hopes of providing some comfort and memories. This first quilt is one my mother helped me make a few months before she died in 2025 as her brain shut down from Lewy Body Dementia.
The label on the back side of the quilt explains this quilt story: People who live with dementia need to feel purposeful and have meaningful activities to be a part of. With both of my parents living with 3 different types of dementia and 600 miles away, I often brought quilting projects to my parents’ home as a purposeful activity. They would put patches together, help with the design, and then I would donate the finished quilt to Mennonite Central Committee and the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale.
My parents enjoyed quilts… using them on all their beds, noticing the beautiful hand stitching of their mothers’ quilts, buying quilts for others, and admiring the colorful designs of my own recent quilts. My mother made several quilts for family members, sometimes having the grandchildren help.
My mother lived with Lewy Body Dementia the last 8 years of her life and died peacefully on June 7, 2025. She helped match up the squares of this quilt while I sewed them together in January 2025.
In Honor of Florence Marie Rheinheimer Harnish
1/15/1930 - 6/7/2025
Completed by Marie Harnish, Indianapolis, IN
Quilted by Cathy Franks, Carmel, IN
June 2025
II. “Seasons of Life” Photo Quilt
We all have “seasons” throughout our lives. This quilt was designed around some of the seasons of life reflected in photographs taken by Colleen Kliewer. Colleen, who died in 2018 from cancer, and her husband Ron, attended FMC and were longtime friends of my husband and me. We decided this quilt was a good way to honor our friendship and Colleen’s legacy.
Colleen was happy when she was taking photos! Much to the chagrin of family, she often lagged behind when hiking or wandered around the yard when flowers were in full bloom, always looking through the lens of her latest camera, attempting to capture the perfect image. She had a gift for finding the story in an image.
Colleen spent hours manipulating photos with light, colors, framing, and eventually printing a few to frame, make into cards, or enter in a competition. I printed each photo on special “fabric paper” on my home printer. Each photograph is surrounded by color coordinated fabric “matting” and “framed” in black fabric borders for consistency.
I wanted the quilt to resemble a photo gallery, showing off the individual images. The background needed to be neutral and interesting, but with so many different colors already, how could I make it look integrated? Choosing gray fabrics with a variety of patterns and textures, plus small pieces of color randomly stitched together, started bringing the background together. Adding in the fabulous quilting by Cathy Franks, the background comes alive, integrating, but not distracting from the photographs.
This quilt was fun to work on as I tried to make the amazing photographs come to life! I hope this quilt reminds us of life’s seasons and ways to capture the seasons in unusual and surprising ways.
Thanks Colleen.
III. “Peace by Design” T-shirt Quilt
What a fabulous collection of colorful Peace T-shirts! This t-shirt quilt was made for Susan Mark Landis who worked for a Mennonite Peace and Justice organization. Over the years, she had one special shirt designed each year that illustrated the focus of her peace and justice work. I was so excited to work on this quilt because the designs, images, and words on the shirts were amazing! These shirts focused on universal themes of peace and justice in a variety of areas locally, nationally, and across the globe.
About the Author
Marie Harnish
Marie Harnish is a multi-faceted artist who began quilting as an art form when she turned 50. In addition to quilting, she has been involved in many non-profit organizations, including Mennonite Women USA, First Mennonite Church, the neighborhood Crime Watch, the high school orchestra and soccer PTOs, Mennonite Central Committee – Great Lakes, and Dementia Education. She designs modern and traditional quilts and is involved in the Quilter’s Guild of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild, where she continues to learn and is inspired to try new techniques.
