I have a wonderful brother-in-law, Mike. He’s been my brother-in-law for something like fifty-five years, and in all that time I don’t think I’ve seen him out of a plaid shirt. He’s got that New England thing going — solid, a little wry, entirely himself.
One day I just had an inkling to use shirt material, and once the idea landed I couldn’t shake it. I cut the fronts off ten or twelve shirts and made him a quilt of them, with ties pieced in for the things he likes: a peace sign, a few nods to music he loves. There are suspenders in there too.
My sister Patty — his wife — sent me a picture almost right away, the quilt spread out on their bed in their lovely Cape Cod house. It just fit, like it had always been there.