12 tcf.org.uk COMPASSION | FEATURE - TCF STONE MEMORY QUILT TCF Stone Memory Quilt by Anna Lawson I sat in the garden, wondering how to start writing about the Stone Memory Quilt, how not to hurt you any more than you are already hurting. A turtle dove alighted on the lamppost, about thirty feet away. The wind rustled through the leaves of the trees while the pigeon’s mate cooed for him to return. I said out loud “There is no point in you sitting there, you need to go back to your nest”. As it lingered, two feathers joined together, danced through the air, like angels’ wings and landed between my toes, before the bird eventually took flight. I heard Alex’s firm voice, “Just get on with it mam”. He still tells me what to do, even now! The dove returned briefly, with a twig in its beak, looked straight at me and disappeared back into the whispering leaves. Again I heard Alex, “They are building their nest. Be like the doves”. I guess he meant that TCF is my nest, my safe haven, and yours too – our community. To explain how the Stone Memory Quilt came into being I need to give you the background. I am an artist, writer, poet and was a lecturer in Fine Art and Art history. I was born into a family of artists, and our minds constantly buzz with creative ideas that get lost in the reality of life. Since Alex died, creativity has been pivotal to navigating this new ‘normal’ that we do not want, nor ever expected. My creative practice has been more prolific than at any other time in my life but simultaneously, I felt hugely guilty as it afforded me an escape from the horrific reality. Since then, I have read the book ‘When Words Are Not Enough – Creative Responses to Grief’, by Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds. That guilt has now been firmly dispelled. To create a piece of art that is meaningful, the artist has to go on a journey, an exploration of ideas. It does not just occur, finished as the artist intends it. The Stone Memory Quilt is a perfect example. It has been the culmination of personal sketches, a set of circumstances and collaborations I could not have foreseen. I have always doodled in sketchbooks, also containing mundane shopping lists, quotes, to do lists etc. When a doodle becomes a drawing, ideas and great intentions gush. Some develop into a piece of work but most often they are left on a closed page as life had thrown yet another curved ball. When the book is
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