THIS IS A JOURNEY

A precious friend of mine has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Stage 2-A.  She is currently taking chemo treatments.  Some days she feels okay and other days she feels really not okay.  After I saw her the other day, I could not get her off my mind. 

I must say that I am not a quilter who is always giving away my quilts.  Most of the time I make the quilt for the pleasure of the journey that I experience.

However, lately I find that I am being drawn to sharing my quilts with others.  So it is with my friend with Lymphoma.  It seemed that I must make her a quilt.

At our last SewDay when she was in my studio she commented about some "orphan" blocks that I had put on my design wall.  I was trying to decide how to use them.  I have long moved past their original plan. She commented that she liked those blocks.

When I finally accepted that I was supposed to make this quilt for her, I knew those blocks would be the starting point for me.



I only had a few of each of these.  I wanted to do something that would be clean and crisp.  Something not so traditional in design.

I took them to the design wall and started playing.  After a few tries I liked this one.  At least something like this.

I found a bolt of Kona cotton in Bone.  It was perfect for filling in the "negative space".  It would be crisp, clean and very soft looking.

Instead of cutting large pieces to put in long "sashing" style, I cut the pieces in irregular size blocks.  I thought this would give some interest to the overall design.

The top is pieced and ready for making the back.  I love pieced backs.

I had two more blocks that I did not use on the front and thought they would give me ideas for the backing.  I wanted to include my label as part of the back.

I used a print with a small rosebud on it as well as Kona Snow and the extra blocks and some leftover pieces from the blocks on the front. This back is pieced together with the label in the center block of the back.  I added more Kona Snow strips on each side to make the back wide enough.

Now it is ready to be loaded on the quilting machine and quilted out.

Wonderful!!!  It loaded without a hitch and I managed to get the back in the right direction so the writing on the label is not upside down.  Let the stitching begin . . .

AARRGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something is not threaded correctly.  So I picked out all these stitches and re-threaded everything.  Whew!  It is now working and the bobbin stitching looks right.

I chose a Feather pattern.  This is Free Motion Quilting with a pantograph.  I still am learning.  I improve each time I do it, but I know it is more about the quilt and the love in this project than it is about perfection.

Another look at the quilting.  You can see the backing at the top of the picture as it is rolled over.

I have been trying to get this quilt to my friend, but she has had too many appointments, treatments, and days that she simply did not feel like having company.

She was able to come to Modern Quilt Guild meeting today and I could finally present her with her "Journey" quilt that was stitched with love especially for her. 




-sandi