Pieced by the Citrus Belt Quilters
Stuffed quilting by Bernice Foster
Redlands, California
Dated 2006
Gift of Don Beld in memory of Joyce Shields, 2012.016.0008

The collapsed latticework façade of the World Trade Center seen in media images inspired Don Beld’s design of this memorial quilt. He used two block patterns—a Drunkard’s Path variation and an Uneven Nine Patch—to represent the twisted wreckage of the building. He named the combination “Fallen Timbers” to commemorate the firefighters and police officers who died responding to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.

The quilt’s borders include quilted images of the Twin Towers, a New York Police Department police officer’s cap, a New York Fire Department firefighter’s helmet, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and an American flag at half-mast. Stuffed quilting in the border includes the words “Dignity,” “Liberty,” “Humanity,” and “Equality.”

Beld gave this quilt to his home guild, the Citrus Belt Quilters, who raffled it in a 2006 fundraiser. John and Joyce Shields won the raffle. When Joyce died, John donated the quilt for inclusion in the collection of Beld’s quilts at the International Quilt Museum.