Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Gift of Love





Matthew and I have been dealing with all of life's difficulties by quilting. This started July 5th when I taught Matthew how to quilt. On last Tuesday we found out that a friend had a recurrence of her cancer. We were devastated. With not much else to do but wait and worry, I headed to the fabric store. While Matthew did his day job, I began the cutting and piecing. Our goal was to finish the quilt and a matching tote for her first chemo. I stayed up until 3am working for days on the quilt after my little ones were tucked safely in their beds. By Saturday afternoon it was clear that the race was no longer to finish the quilt before chemo, but to finish the quilt before she passed away. We headed to the hospital Sunday night with my husband driving. When we called to check on the room number, we found out we were too late. I do not regret for a minute the huge quilting marathon. It gave me comfort to work on this gift of love. I'm sorry that we didn't finish earlier, but I would not wish her to have suffered longer. After a bit of time has passed we will take this quilt to her husband as a symbol of our love and affection for her.



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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sweet Menagerie


from the Moda Bake Shop. The fabric is from Joann Fabrics
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Border fabric close-up of photo quilt

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Emroidery squares on photo quilt



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Photo Quilt


I'm almost through with the first of four of these quilts. In the three big blocks the words, "May the love that surrounds you fill your heart with warmth" will be embroidered. Then all the way around the center 6 blocks photos will be sewn on.
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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Today's Forecast: More Layering and Basting


I finished piecing Arcadia 2 last night just after midnight, and Kara will be helping me layer and baste tonight.  Arcadia 1 was a pain in the rump to baste because of the staggered sashing lines, so this time I'm going to give Hobbs Fusible Cotton batting a go and see how that works for me.  Kara and I fumbled through using this batting on our last layer/basting blowout, and I don't think she's done the machine quilting on that project started yet.  I think it will go much more smoothly for us now that we know we'll have to flip sandwich over successively to get all the big wrinkles out.  Kara was also going to double-down on her Blue Bell quilt to get the embroidery in the borders finished so we can layer and baste that one, too.  I'm still shuddering, though, remembering our last layer & baste event which nearly turned into a slumber party when I sent Kara home in the wee hours of the morning.  So I've drawn the line:  We can baste one quilt, or two quilts, or three quilts, but not four!  Well, maybe I'd reconsider for crib quilts...

Friday, November 5, 2010

Quick Update, Then Off to MMKR

I'm all packed and ready to take off early tomorrow morning for MMKR, the Men's Midwest Knitting Retreat.  Of course, I'm taking some knitting with me, but I know I'll spend much of the weekend continuing to bind quilts by hand.  I'm very excited, and I have a fabric store or two to stop & visit along the way.

Before I toddle off to bed, though, I want to post a few pictures of the second Arcadia quilt I'm working on.  This one uses the Hungarian Blues fabric line, and I know Kara's going to want to steal it.  I'm slightly pleased with it, and the only real problem is the temptation to pack up the sewing machine & accoutrements  so I can continue working on it over the weekend.