"Mars" by Collin Ruff Fellows

"Mars" - Collin Ruff Fellows' last quilt is monumental, a masterpiece.

"Mars" was on display last weekend at the Celebration of Life for Collin Ruff Fellows. Linda and I arrived thinking we were probably a bit early. A pair of shiny motorcycles stood outside, and people were already spilling out the front door.  The house was full of friends and family, and the celebration was well underway.

Marlin Hofer chatting with Linda McLaughlin in front of "Mars"

We were at the house the other day, setting up "Mars" on a quilt stand. It's a big quilt, and the monumental scale seemed apropos considering Collin's enormous talent. Collin pinned the quilt to prepare it for quilting the day before he passed away. His husband, Marlin Hofer had it quilted and finished by Kazumi Peterson. She did an excellent job.

square patches cut for Collin's planet series quilts

Collin left a lot of UFOs. For the non-quilters in the crowd, "UFO" stands for unfinished object, a work in progress, patchwork in pieces...you get the drift. Some of these projects will be finished. Other ideas may remain in the sketchbooks for a while, and the sketchbooks are remarkable objects, too.

Collin's brother, Brandon introduced me to their relative, Malaika, who is currently working on Collin's Cathedral Windows quilt. She and I had a nice visit, and laughed about her taking on the project when she originally tried to warn him about all the hand sewing it would take. I tried to warn him, too. If you told Collin he couldn't do something, he would say, "Watch me!" That's just how Collin was, and all the guests at the celebration of life could see it when they walked in the door and saw the jaw-dropping "Mars" on display. When I first saw it, my jaw was on the floor, and that's kind of the same reaction I had when I met Collin and learned about his quilts. Rest in peace, dear friend!