Latest finish--quilt for a friend

I've been totally off the blog for over a month, partly because it's been a really busy time at work, and partly because I have been sewing up a storm!

Part of the challenge of meeting my self-imposed goals of finishing old WIPs is that new quilt opportunities keep arising, and I end up making unplanned quilts.

For the quilt I'm going to share today, it was a sad reason that came up. A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age. She is actually beginning chemo treatments today, but she has been in my thoughts since she first shared her diagnosis. Other friends of ours helped put together a great care calendar to help her and her husband with meals and childcare for their two children while she is fighting this disease. I am not a good cook, though, so my first thought was to make her a quilt. Other friends who have fought cancer have shared with me that chemo can make you cold, and that it's comforting to have a nice blanket to wrap up in. And when I don't know what to do, I make quilts.

So here it is:

I used this tutorial from the Cloud 9 Fabrics website, and I used the collection of Piper fabrics I bought with a groupon from G Street Fabrics. The background is Kona Smoke, which might be my new favorite Kona neutral. It is a great contrast to the pinks and purples and yellows of the Piper fabrics! At 55x63", this is one of the larger quilts I've made, but it was still pretty easy to quilt on my machine.

What I loved about this quilt is that it was actually incredibly easy to piece. The worst part about it was putting the fabric into order so that directional prints went the right way. 

I backed it with more Kona Smoke with the leftover strips of the Piper fabric breaking it up. It is bound with Kona Crocus, which was a really great match for the purples. And is so bright and cheery.

It is quilted with organic straight lines in the ribbons and a FMQ meander in the backing areas. I adore how the straight lines create a really nice cross-hatch on the backing, and I'm glad I used a solid so that shows.

I also wanted this to be very special, so I free motion quilted my friend's name into one corner. I haven't quilted words since a baby quilt a few years ago, but I was really happy with how it turned out. 

I actually cut, pieced, quilted and bound this in about 2-3 weeks, and was able to deliver it to my friend when she had gotten home from the hospital after her surgery. As I wrote in her card, I hope that when she wraps up in the blanket she feels wrapped in my love and healing thoughts.


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