Her life
A maker, through and through
BornMarch 25, 1947 — Chicago, IL
MarriedWayne H. Tess, July 24, 1999
CareerWaushara County Human Services, retired 2011
GuildPrairie Pointers Quilters Guild
Also lovedHorses, endurance riding, her garden, reading
Trudy grew up in Illinois before settling in the Hancock area of Wisconsin, where she worked for years with Waushara County Human Services' Child Support office until her retirement in 2011. But ask anyone close to her, and they'll tell you her real hours were spent elsewhere — outdoors among her flowers, watching the wildlife around the house, lost in a book, or, more often than not, at the sewing machine.
She was a devoted mother, family member and friend where she found a community. Later years she traded fabric, patterns, and friendship for years. The quilts in this gallery, in stars, baskets, pineapples, and little patchwork houses, are a small part of what she pieced together over a lifetime at the machine.
"Trudy loved the outdoors, tending to her flowers, watching the wildlife around their home, spending hours quilting and reading books."
Before quilting filled her days, horses did. I
For the family
Asking for a quilt to keep
If one of Trudy's quilts is calling to you, click on its photo above and choose "Ask for this quilt," or use the "Ask for this one" button in the list below. It'll open an email to the family with your name and the quilt you'd like — nothing is final until you hear back.
This list updates instantly for you after you ask, but it only fully updates for everyone once the family reviews requests and refreshes the page — so if two people want the same quilt, the family will sort it out and follow up with you.
Signed by her guild sisters
A quilt with her friends' own hands in it
One block carries the signatures of fellow Prairie Pointers Quilters Guild members — Elaine, Ginger, Peggy, Linda, Dorothy, Sandy, Marsha, Sonia, Jackie, Barb, and more — stitched in thread on a corner of one of her quilts. A reminder that quilting, for Trudy, was never a solitary craft.
