It’s challenging to write these posts in any sort of chronological order because not only are my photos poorly labeled and thus hard to find, I often started quilts one year and didn’t finish them until several years later! The next few quilts I’m going to post about I generically refer to as “Dharma quilts”. I’m a Buddhist and the Dharma is the teachings of the Buddha; these quilts are not teachings themselves, of course, but they are gifts I made for Buddhist friends, teachers, and groups after I stopped making Quilts of Valor.

The first quilt I’m going to spotlight is one I made for my first Buddhist teacher, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche (https://www.kunzang.org/biography/), from whom I took refuge (the formal ceremony of becoming a Buddhist) in March 1996. According to the photos I’ve found, I started the quilt in February 2012 and finished it very close to exactly two years later. I chose the pattern and colors because they reminded me of the Karmapa Dream Flag, a symbol of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism first seen in a dream of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. You can see a picture of the dream flag here: https://www.namsebangdzo.com/Note-Card-Dream-Flag-p/13650.htm.