Recently a young girl in our church was diagnosed with leukemia. Knowing from (second-hand) experience how miserable hospital stays are, especially for chemo, I thought it would be appropriate for our church’s quilt ministry to make her a big, soft blanket to snuggle in when things got tough.
The information I was given was: green, pinks, and reds, and likes dogs, cats, horses, and her American Girl dolls. I finally settled on hearts and an adapted Scottie dog pattern, turning it into a West Highland Terrier instead (one of the American Girl accessories is a little Westie named Coconut.)
Usually when we make quilts, we ask the church members to make a “signature” block, some sort of design, verse, etc. that fits the theme of the quilt. This time however I thought it would be more meaningful if the girl’s peers made the personalized blocks. The artwork may not be tops (what do you expect of 5-12 year olds?), but the love definitely comes through.
In another change, since I wanted an extra-soft quilt, I decided to work with “Minky” (or Jo-Ann’s answer to Minky, though the adorable red paw print fabric came from Hancock’s). But while the stuff is super-duper cuddly, it’s stretchier than all get out, and the nap makes it annoyingly slippery. The stretch I got around by ironing stabilier to the back of all my fabrics before cutting them out. The slippery I just had to learn to pin the things like crazy. Thank God for my walking foot.
I really wanted to get this quilt done by the end of November, so during Thanksgiving holidays my mother and I sat and quite companionably pinned, ironed, and stitched together the whole quilt (Thanks, Mom!). Between Thursday evening and Saturday at 2:30pm we managed to finish the thing.
Instead of batting, we ended up using a big piece of white fleece. The backing too is fleece–that wasn’t my first choice, but the first choice didn’t look right, second didn’t have enough fabric, and third would have required me to iron on stabilizer to the whole 56″ x 56″ quilt backing. I don’t think so. I found another big piece of red fleece in my stash, and away we went.
My mother had the cutest idea, one I think I’ll use again. The top corner heart has a hidden pocket. If you just look at it from a distance, it looks the same as the other hearts. Up close you can see a little pocket, perfect for hiding treasures right within easy reach.
Anyhow, it’s done. Now I just have to finish six quilt patterns, eight swimming cover-ups (I’ll post on that one tomorrow…hopefully), and my convergence quilt before December 13th, and my niece’s baby quilt before Christmas. Sigh. So many projects, so little time.
