I can't believe how quickly the Bloggers' Quilt Festval has come around again - I was totally unprepared with no idea what to enter. And then I remembered this quilt. Not only do I love this quilt, but it's story is an important one. This is my Mix Tapes Quilt. Or rather, Chloe's Mix Tape Quilt.
This foundation pieced tape block design was in issue of 10 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and I made one because I liked it and thought maybe I'd make a mug rug with a single block. And then I made another. And another. And another until I had 15 in total.
And it was about then that the purpose for this quilt became apparent. A good friend of my sister-in-law has a daughter called Chloe. When she was little, she survived cancer. And now, aged 13, her heart was failing her. Very quickly she went from a normal teenager to the transplant waiting list, spending each day in hospital. Steph asked me to make this quilt for her. I surrounded the 15 mix tapes with some wide uneven borders, using Kona cotton black and some of the quilters' favourite Ikea fabric.
On the back I up-sized the tape block and appliqued Chloe's name.
The quilting is a mix of ditch quilting around the tapes, a border of pebble quilting, and cross hatch quilting in between. I even added a line of hand quilting in pink perle thread within the black border - I had planned on quilting in this border on the machine, but I would have needed to use black thread top and bottom (my tension isn't perfect enough that a light thread wouldn't show through from the back) but black on the back, over the mix tape pieced on the back, just didn't work... so hand quilting it was!)
The biggest challenge of this quilt was finding fabrics to fussy-cut for the tape reels and the tape labels - there were a couple of instances of slightly dubious fussy cutting - this one is my husband's favourite. I didn't even notice the 'f' until he pointed it out ( can you see it?)
And the happy ending of this quilt? Just a couple of weeks later, in early November, Chloe got her new heart. Her recovery went so well that she was home just in time for Christmas! Although the festival is all about quilts, I would ask you to take a moment and think about whether you would be willing to be an organ donor. Have a chat with your family and make sure they know your wishes. I'm an organ donor. Are you?
Back to the quilts - I'm linking this quilt up in the "small quilts" category - it measures in dead on the size limit at 60" x 60" making it 240" all round! I'm looking forward to sitting down with a cup of tea in the next few days to browse through as many entries as I can!
This foundation pieced tape block design was in issue of 10 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and I made one because I liked it and thought maybe I'd make a mug rug with a single block. And then I made another. And another. And another until I had 15 in total.
And it was about then that the purpose for this quilt became apparent. A good friend of my sister-in-law has a daughter called Chloe. When she was little, she survived cancer. And now, aged 13, her heart was failing her. Very quickly she went from a normal teenager to the transplant waiting list, spending each day in hospital. Steph asked me to make this quilt for her. I surrounded the 15 mix tapes with some wide uneven borders, using Kona cotton black and some of the quilters' favourite Ikea fabric.
On the back I up-sized the tape block and appliqued Chloe's name.
The quilting is a mix of ditch quilting around the tapes, a border of pebble quilting, and cross hatch quilting in between. I even added a line of hand quilting in pink perle thread within the black border - I had planned on quilting in this border on the machine, but I would have needed to use black thread top and bottom (my tension isn't perfect enough that a light thread wouldn't show through from the back) but black on the back, over the mix tape pieced on the back, just didn't work... so hand quilting it was!)
The biggest challenge of this quilt was finding fabrics to fussy-cut for the tape reels and the tape labels - there were a couple of instances of slightly dubious fussy cutting - this one is my husband's favourite. I didn't even notice the 'f' until he pointed it out ( can you see it?)
And the happy ending of this quilt? Just a couple of weeks later, in early November, Chloe got her new heart. Her recovery went so well that she was home just in time for Christmas! Although the festival is all about quilts, I would ask you to take a moment and think about whether you would be willing to be an organ donor. Have a chat with your family and make sure they know your wishes. I'm an organ donor. Are you?
Back to the quilts - I'm linking this quilt up in the "small quilts" category - it measures in dead on the size limit at 60" x 60" making it 240" all round! I'm looking forward to sitting down with a cup of tea in the next few days to browse through as many entries as I can!
Thanks for stopping by!
Comments
Greetings from Poland
Kamila