Best Friends Forever - the Story of a Friendship and a Quilt

I have a special blog post today.  Joyce Drenth and Kristy Soard -- two members of my Tech Know Quilters program collaborated to create two very special quilts which have been shared on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and at the NSQG Quilt show.

Here is the story of their friendship -- and their BFF quilts - which were designed using EQ8.

Joyce Drenth and Kristy Soard 
​A Friendship that has Spanned Almost 50 Years

Joyce and Kristy were math teachers who both taught at the Turpin Middle School in Cincinnati Ohio.

​After becoming fast friends in 1976, they soon discovered a shared passion for creating.

​In 1983, Joyce moved to the Chicago area.  Joyce and Kristy continued their long-distance friendship using the phone and internet communication.

I became acquainted with both Joyce and Kristy when they purchased one of my EQ7 Classes -- Easy Peasy Easy Draw.  When EQ8 was introduced in late 2017, they both took my intro class (Shoot for the Stars with EQ8) and  joined Tech Know Quilters.  They have been active participants in the program since then, sharing pictures of both their virtual and finished quilts.

I feel privileged that I have been able to get the know them over our years together -- and consider them fantastic quilters and designers.  As well as truly wonderful individuals.

Joyce D. (during the 80s)

Joyce Drenth (current photo)

Kristy S. (during the 80s)

Kristy Soard (current photo)

Best Friends Forever Quilt Beginning

In the middle of September 2021 Alex Anderson of The Quilt Show online presented a FPP (foundation paper piecing) class as the world was still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Fabric bundles consisting of  Jennifer Sampou and Kaffe Fassett fabrics were purchased by both Joyce and Kristy.   Many happy colors were included and the world surely needed happy at this stage of the pandemic. 

Alex created a specific pattern for the online group to use; however, Joyce and Kristy decided to create their own quilt together using their Electric Quilt 8 programs.  

Sampou and Fassett Fabric Bundle

The Design Process

Based on the blessing of their friendship, they determined the quilt name would become “BFF”, shorthand for ‘Best Friends Forever!” 

As they created the quilt, Kristy and Joyce ​remained in close contact reminiscing over the many years of their friendship and what blocks could be utilized to represent those aspects they treasure. 

Early in their friendship, Kristy and Joyce formed a business together with a red cardinal on their calling cards.  From this Kristy suggested they incorporate one bird for each of them to signify that bond. 

As each of them was inspired they would design the block in EQ8, and then eventually they designed a layout to incorporate their meaningful blocks. 

They learned to compress their project into a zip file, and emailed their blocks and the quilt design file back and forth.

Constructing the Quilt

By November, 2021, Kristy and Joyce Zoomed as they edited and modified background cutting diagrams. 

When January 2022 rolled around and they contemplated a start date for the cutting and making to begin, Joyce received a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer.  This was shocking news as Joyce had always kept up on annual mammograms and breast ultrasound tests. Joyce became very busy undergoing testing and assimilating all that comes with such a diagnosis. 

On February 24, 2022, Kristy and Joyce finally connected via Zoom to analyze the center “Life Cross” block and the tactile part of the quilt commenced.

​

Highlights from the Quilt

The reflections shared here were written by Joyce and extracted from the Best Friends Forever Letter of Provenance.  Most of the images were pulled from their Electric Quilt file.  Scroll down to view pictures of the quilt.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer - The top left block, the hourglass/breast cancer block honors Kristy’s sister, (Kathy Goodin Febus) my mother (Charlotte Beasey Belcher) and my diagnosis during BFF quilt construction.

Kristy shared her butterfly fabric for the breast cancer heart.

​I selected the butterfly as my symbol for gifts to family members and birthday cards for the grandchildren.

Basket

Basket – The baskets are representative of the early days of our business as we created multiple styles of fabric baskets to sell to florists, boutiques and at craft fairs.

Pecan Pie

​Pecan Pie - This applique block needed to be in our quilt. Early in our friendship we both felt our family’s recipe was outstanding. Upon comparison, we were both right; it was identical!

​Dress - Our dress blocks became important from the time period when we were teaching and pregnant. Back in 1980, we sewed most of our clothing. Unbeknownst to each other, we frequently purchased and sewed identical maternity clothing. Imagine our laughter as we discovered our uncanny ability to become twins.

Math - The top central block represents our professional careers as math teachers. Symbolization of mathematical operations can be seen in the directions of the pieces: the dark multiplication sign, the pink addition sign, fractions abound within the divisions of the block’s pieces.

Smocking

Smocking - The upper right-smocking block reminds us of our journey into the new world of smocking. This heirloom sewing technique popular in the south produced stunning clothing to be treasured for generations. The flowers are reminiscent of the embroidery stitches typically adorning our sweet little daughter’s dresses. We learned to smock together and visited a smocking shop on the top floor of a beautiful Cincinnati home.

Illinois

Ohio Star

We designated sides of the quilt for each of us: Left-me, Right-Kristy.

​To anchor each side, we selected our state block: Illinois for me and Ohio for Kristy.

Pear Left

Pear Tree Left

Pear Right

Pear Tree Right

Pear & Pear Tree with Bird – These blocks serve as a play on words as we were often referred to as “quite a pair”.

"It’s not about what someone can do for you, it's who and what the two of you become in each other's presence." James Clear
​
This could not be exemplified more than in our friendship.

Joyce's Butterfly Quilting

Kristy's Owl Quilting

Butterfly & Owl – The astute observer will discover a butterfly and owl hidden within the quilting.

The butterfly found on my side of the quilt signifies my desire to be remembered by all those I love each time they see a butterfly.

​The owl on Kristy’s side is a memory of her daddy. Even though he passed tragically at the age of 38, he still influences her daily life.

Bee

Bee - The four bee blocks indicate our continual desire to learn, create and ‘bee’ busy. I used a Kreinik cord-winder and black floss to create the antennae and legs of the bees for both quilts.

Hourglass

Hourglass – These blocks emphasize this driving force behind our lives as well as length of years of our enduring friendship.

Joyce's Evergreen

Kristy's Evergreen

Evergreen trees – The four tree blocks represent children we added to our family trees. The top left tree represents my son, Brian. The bottom left tree represents my daughter, Andrea. Kristy’s right side displays the top right tree for her son, Chad, and the bottom right tree for her daughter, Kate.

Sewing Machine & Spools

Sewing Machine & Spools - Our lives revolve around sewing, and the wool sewing machines portray our first memories of the machines upon which our sewing journeys began.  Our love of using this fabric medium as well as embellishment with embroidery stitches exemplifies past accomplishments. Each old sewing machine rests on spools of thread, a fitting combination. We blended applique, embroidery and piecing into this central position of each side.

Coneflower Top

Coneflower Base

Coneflowers – These central anchor blocks represent the love of outdoors, growing not only flowers, but also the lives of our children as they became successful adults. The blocks shared a resemblance to the beautiful New York Beauty quilt block adored by both of us. Again, these shared blocks face the center indicating our continued connection through life.

Life Block

Life Block –The large cross symbolizes how the intersection of childhood experiences influenced the similarities of our adult lives. At the center of this intersection is the flower where the blessing of friendship blooms. The vines embody the growth of our friendship as our lives intertwined throughout the years.

This central block is framed by Log Cabins upon which many quilters begin their journey symbolizing how we started our friendship simply and nourished it throughout the years. 

Joyce House

Kristy House

Homes – The two bounding homes represent our beginning in Cincinnati with homes close by each other. Through time the distance increased, however the closeness of friendship remained. 

Joyce Bird

Kristy Bird

​Birds – The birds facing each other on the quilt are reminiscent of the bird we used on our ‘High Spirits’ business card.

Sunshines

Sunshines – Multiple suns depict the 47 years of friendship we have treasured thus far. We decided that the quilt needed to have the BFF quilted within each of these suns. 

Tunnel

Tunnel – I moved away from Cincinnati in 1983, yet we continue to speak/text almost daily. Kristy frequently joked that we needed a tunnel from Cincinnati to Chicago.
​     
Inspiration! We developed a row of homes between our towns creating our tunnel!

Joyce's Courthouse Steps Border close-up

Border - The beauty of the scrappy Courthouse Steps was designed by Kristy to surround the representation of our lasting friendship.

Courthouse Steps Border Block

Here is their final quilt as designed by Joyce and Kristy using EQ8.

BFF Quilt Design from EQ8

The BFF Quilts

The quilts were displayed together at the Northwest Suburban Quilters' Guild in 2023.

Best Friends Forever Together in NSQG Show - May 21, 2023

Best Friends Forever by Joyce Drenth

Best Friends Forever by Kristy Goodin Soard

Joyce quilted her quilt.  Kristy's quilt was quilted by Teresa Silva of Quilting in My Bliss.

A few close-ups of the quilting.  ​

Kristy's Quilt at an angle to better see the quilting.

Close-Up of Joyce's Quilting

Joyce's Quilt Center

Joyce and Kristy created a letter of provenance to explain the purpose and symbolism of each block of their quilt.  Click on the video by Kristy to see their unique inclusion of the letter of provenance on their quilts.

Label on Quilt

Front of Label

I hope you enjoyed reading Joyce's and Kristy's story of their amazing quilt -- and friendship.

Happy quilting.

​Kari

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