To Health: A Quilt

>> Sunday, January 9, 2011

I offered a few glimpses of this quilt in the making. It started as a quilt to contribute to 100 Quilts for Christmas but its purpose and intended recipient quickly shifted. (I donated a different quilt to my local children's hospital but, in the frenzy of dropping it off, failed to take a picture.) A close family friend has been fighting breast cancer this fall. Once I realized that I had cut enough strips to make a good-sized lap quilt rather than just a kid's quilt, I decided that it needed to go to someone I know, and hte Maer house would be its new destination. I returned to DC on Wednesday and stopped by to drop off the quilt on Thursday night, the day before her surgery. I like to think that a warm and cozy quilt is just the right thing to return to and recover under.

I backed it with a deep aquamarine fleece, which makes it very warm and comfortable. I love how the straight-line quilting shows up on the fleece. When I back a quilt with fleece, I don't use batting as I find the fleece thick enough on its own. I used to shy away from lots of quilting with fleece backs, but I've become very comfortable with quilting fleece and now quilt it as I would any other quilt.

Red and aqua has long been a popular color combination, and I really do like the pairing. This quilt brightens up a room without being too flashy. Coincidentally but fortuitously, it matches the new chairs in Maer house perfectly.

There are some fabrics I love at first (online) sight and others that I need to see in person. The red print at the top of the picture -- Alexander Henry's Farmdale Blossom -- is one of the latter. I was sort of meh about it when I first saw pictures. But then I saw it at the Stitch Lab in Austin and had to buy a bit. I only bought a 1/2 yard, so I'm using it sparingly for now -- one strip in this quilt and some more waiting for other projects...

5 comments:

~Michelle~ January 9, 2011 at 1:59 PM  

What a great quilt for a special friend! Love the aqua/red :)

Anonymous January 9, 2011 at 3:05 PM  

Fabulous! And if your friend has to go through (intravenous) chemo sessions, this will be just the ticket for her to put over her legs while she sits there. I've been told that chemo can really chill you, since it it room temperature when it goes into your body.

What a wonderful friend you are.

Micki January 10, 2011 at 2:28 PM  

That is a stunning quilt! Love the pattern...where did you get it?
Micki

Abby and Stephanie January 10, 2011 at 6:13 PM  

What joy you've brought to your friend. Somehow I think snuggling under a quilt handmade with love makes life at the moment a bit brighter.

Linda March 12, 2011 at 2:52 PM  

I love the snowdrops fabric, a real sign of Spring and new hope. Let's hope the quilt helps your friend and gives her hope and strength to face her treatments. One of my friends is using the quilt I recently gifted her each time she attends a chemo session as she says she gets very cold and the wuilt keeps her warm.

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