Quiltmaker’s statement:

I began the quilt with Day of the Dead-style fabrics and added migrant jeans to the  border when I received them later. I made 5 patch squares surrounded by dark sky fabric to hold the many unknowns’ names. I created the binding, called Chinese coins, from all the fabric used. While I prepared the fabric for the quilt, I removed several pockets from the jeans and sand fell onto my cutting mat. It was surreal, and it was humbling just knowing that sand is a part of the journey some of these people took. Maybe they made it to America, maybe they didn’t. I hope they did.

I love the way the quilt turned out and am very proud to have been asked to make it. I feel it is part of me as much as it is a part of them. I hope that I honored the unknowns in a way they would want to be honored. I’m pretty sure they were there with me on this journey. (Sharon Kisselberg-Peake)