Friday, April 24, 2009

Waterspring: a story of two quilts

Last year, a friend with a particular form of cancer needed a special form of radiation therapy - the one where you get to swallow a radioactive tablet offered to you at the end of tongs by thoroughly garbed medical staff, and then you are in an isolation ward for several days until it's safe for you to mix with people again.  Not the easiest experience.  So a bunch of us decided to make her a quilt - she could take it with her to the hospital isolation ward, and it would be there for her afterwards while she recovered at home.  She's a keen canoeist, so blues and greens seemed like the best colours.  The sewing experience of the group varied (from very to hardly any), so something simple was called for. Our colleague, who is thankfully well now, knew nothing about it, and loved it (you can see her reaction here.) 
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The thing was, I'd bought the fabric on special (to be economical), and so needed to buy the minimum cut, and had leftovers; I'd also bought more of the border/sashing fabric.  Add to the mix a nevvy who had plaintively pointed out, on more than one occasion, that he was Too Big Now for the quilt he'd had since being a baby.  See, Aunty Ruth? he said, his feet sticking way out beyond the bottom of the farmyard quilt.  O-kay.  So I made another Waterspring quilt, and this one went into the magazine and then onto the nevvy - it's big enough to keep him warm and happy for the long haul.  Here's Waterspring, as published in Australian Patchwork & Quilting vol. 17 no. 10 - not photographed with either original, as they're both long since wrapping up lovely people to tell them they're loved and appreciated.  Which quilts do rather well.
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