A Life Reflected: The Terry Higgins Memorial Quilt in the words of those closest to him.

The Terry Higgins Memorial Quilt was unveiled at The Festival of Quilts this summer. We spoke to Terry's lover Rupert Whitaker, and Terry's close friend Martyn Butler at FOQ about their feelings and experiences in making this quilt.

Rupert, this project really reflects a great depth to Terry's life that isn't apparent through the work of the charity (Terrence Higgins Trust). How do you feel about this quilt and what does it mean to you?

The process of getting the quilt together was such that I learned things about Terry myself, because of talking to his friends and hearing stories that I actually hadn't heard before. What it does is bring together a number of aspects of Terry's life and you start to see the whole, the real person as he was, his history and what made him who he was. And also then the significance of that life ending because of AIDS. So, for me, it's been lovely to see that being pulled back together - certainly not easy as well - but it's been a lovely process; everybody involved in it has been great. The skill involved has been phenomenal, and the translation from people's ideas to a finished product has been fascinating... But all in all, for me it's a memorial, because it does bring together those parts of Terry that were there before I knew him, because I knew him right at the end of his life, and it's actually really heart-warming to be able to recall him.

Martyn, how has the unveiling been for you?

I'm thrilled with the response, and seeing it for myself for the first time has been very anxious, because it's been 2 years in the planning. You see it on the computer screen, you see the development of the work and it's been such a responsibility handing it over to quilters, because you're dealing in materials and concepts that I'd never worked with before. And to see it finally is such a relief! So I'm thrilled.

Rupert, what do you think Terry's opinion would be of his memorial quilt?

That's a really difficult question. Terry was a bit of an iconoclast... The idea is that it's remembering somebody who was obviously so very much loved and what that love created, what that inspired us to do. I'll speak for myself more, which is that... I was very angry about losing him and there was an immense amount of grief, so that was an opportunity for me to try and change something for the better. And I hope that Terry would be able to see that, if he were in the strange position of seeing this quilt.

Martyn, what has been the most exciting part of the design process for you?

Right from the very beginning I was aware that there were 8 aspects to Terry's life. I wanted something, a device somewhere, to hold it all together - and I wasn't sure how we were going to do that at all. I got inspiration from the decimal coin system in the U.K. whereby when you put all the coins together, there is in fact a design that goes through it. And I thought, okay, we can do something with that. So I gave each of the designers a little piece that would eventually build the heart, and you take a huge risk when you do that because you don't know what people are going to do with it. And they said "what do you want it to do?" and I said, "it doesn't matter - it can be as subtle as you like, or as stark as black and white. Do your own thing, but put it in there". But to see when it all comes together and it joins so perfectly? I'm so relieved. It just feels like, yes, it worked!

We will bring you more content from the unveiling of the Terry Higgins Memorial quilt in the weeks to come! Look out for the forthcoming Winter issue of The Quilter for a feature on this fantastic project.

Not a member? Join us today to receive your copy of The Quilter as part of your member benefits.