On a trip to Lisbon, I found the jacarandas blooming gorgeous. Not so apparent was the price of such beauty: a ton of work later for crews sweeping up mounds of browning blossoms shed all over. Around this time, my sister was shopping for a car. A widow who had previously deferred to her husband’s decisions, she walked into a local dealership and bought a new one. This quilt pays tribute to beauty found and lost, and to grief and loss leading to new-found confidence and independence.