Death of a Friend - Priscilla Kibbee

I heard this week that my friend Priscilla Kibbee had died after a long bout with cancer.  Becausse of Covid and her move out of the area, I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. Here she is at her sale table at one of our quilt meetings.

 This was a quilt I did with one of the many, many beautiful molas as an inspiration.  I bought far too many from her over the years but the price was always right.  She traveled extensively in Asia and South America well into her 80s.  She designed beautiful garments which were highlighted in many Fairfield Fashion shows over the years.  This was after a successful career in nursing, writing and education.  I have 100's of pictures I have taken of her and her beautiful textiles over the years and will share a few.

Although she was certainly known for her garments, later in life she started doing art quilts as well and this is one of my favorites.

This was a quilt she made using nine of her beautiful molas which she bought directly from the Kuna Indians.

This is one of Priscilla's jackets being constructed.  I have made many jackets from patterns and techniques I learned from Priscilla who taught at many quilt conferences.  We were fortunate to have her locally so I got to spend time with her at another friend's house.

Priscilla loved bold fabrics and her is her with one of her quilts in process.  She really didn't make a lot of quilts until later in life.

She had a lot of tiger prints and was trying to figure out what kind of quilt to make with them.  

Like my daughter, she always had a Diet Coke nearby.

Priscilla with her mola quilt in the background working on the beginnings of a jacket.

Priscilla's creations and lessons will live on for a long time.  There are lots of us who purchased who beautiful textiles that she collected from India, South America, Laos,  andViet Nam .  She financed her extensive travels by selling many of these textiles and

The title I had for this one was "Priscilla's Toned down Piece"!

She really did get into art quilts with a vengence.  She never did anything halfway!

Another of her later pieces.

I understand there will be an estate sale sometime in the future, probably in the Binghamton, NY area where she moved to several years ago to be closer to her daughter.