WHY A WOMAN WHO DIDN’T SEW BOUGHT FABRIC?

This quilt was a long time in the making. The client was not a quilter and had never sewn but for some reason she had found herself in a quilt store years ago and ran across these fabrics and fell in love. Fast forward several years and while reading the paper you read about this lady who makes custom quilts. Yipee, she could finally get these beautiful fabrics made into a quilt. While her fabrics waited to be cut and made into a quilt there was a family event, here daughter had gotten engaged and could I make the couple a king size quilt. Of course I could, you get to see the wedding quilt next week on the blog.

The wedding quilt took a lot of time and I picked out the fabrics with pictures and emails back and forth between the client and I and a plan was formed. Again more about that quilt next week.

The client was also in the middle of building their dream home with their daughter. Unknown to the bride and groom the ranch was for them not for mom and dad. A home for mom and dad was part of the plan. The daughter and son-in-law (to be) thought the small second home on the property was for guest and one day possible the parents in their retirement year. I was asked to not make the flannel quilt until they were done with the wedding and the building of the new home and they were moved. Well over a year passed and I received the call but it was not the call I was expecting…..

Retirement came early for my client.  The cancer that had been in remission was back and she was in treatment but it was not going well this time. She was in the process of wrapping things up. She could not afford the second quilt and could she pick up the fabric? I asked her, did you forget you already paid me, well she had forgotten. How soon could I make the quilt? I moved it to the front of the long line of jobs and began working on her quilt. There was no discussion this time, she was either at the hospital receiving a treatment or home recovering. Once the quilt was completed it was three weeks before I heard back from her and we just couldn’t seem to get our schedules to mesh so I mailed it to her. There was a lot of fabric left and she said just keep it. I was in heaven, I love these colors and the flannel is so soft!

I never met my client’s daughter but she knew me and she called me to let me know her mother had lost her battle with cancer and had passed at home in her bed under her quilt. Her daughter told me her mother loved her quilt and they will always cherish the beautiful quilts I had made them. It bought her great comfort to lay under this quilt now and remember her mom and how a woman who never had sewn and never wanted to sew bought this beautiful fabric. She wanted me to have something special to remember her and this quilt is it, “Thank you for making it for her and for us.  You will never know what this means to my dad and I, he sleeps under it every night  no matter the weather.”

I am in the process of making me a special quilt out of the leftovers from this special quilt. It will be a smaller version of this one and I will always remember when I cuddle under the soft flannels the women who didn’t sew coming to my home and sitting in my studio and sharing how she had beat cancer years ago and how they were building a beautiful home.