My former mother-in-law had a saying. "When in doubt," she'd say, "make a quilt." Quilts make beautiful gifts; for weddings, for new babies, for moving-house gifts, to cheer someone up, to comfort someone who is not well. I always feel honored when someone commissions me to make a quilt for them. And then there are those times when you are at a complete loss, and you make a quilt because, well... it is a way of transmuting energy.
With a quilt you can take disparate fabrics, cut them up and then refashion them into something completely different. Instead of throwing away a perfectly good piece of fabric that might not be suitable for its intended use, or that may bring to mind someone or something you'd rather not be reminded of, you can transform it into something completely different. Something warm. Something greater than the sum of its parts. Something you are proud to have taken part in.
This is how this quilt came about. I had a piece of fabric that I could not look at. It was beautiful but I could not have it in my home, for reasons I won't get into here. I wanted to take it and transform it into something else. Not just for me but in honor of a friend. So I gave the black cats room to run under blue skies, surrounded by flowers and backed by a soft comforting blue. It is a twin-size quilt measuring 79" long by 62" wide and can be used as a bed quilt, comforter, or a lap quilt for lounging on the couch watching your favorite movie. The batting in this quilt is extra-high loft, and the whole thing is machine quilted for strength and durability. All fabrics were pre-washed and dried before assembling the quilt. This quilt is made to be used, and can be machine washed in cold water and either line-dried or tumble-dried in a cool dryer.
For the binding I chose an Asian print of cranes, which are considered very auspicious, harbingers of fortune and luck. I machine-sewed the binding to the front, then turned and hand-sewed the binding to the back. Corners are beveled. I've mentioned it before but I am ridiculously proud of my bindings. I always use the method shown here.
This quilt is up and available for purchase now in my Etsy shop. To complete the transmutation of energy I am selling the quilt and donating a portion of proceeds to the S.A.F.E. House Shelter from Domestic Violence in Albuquerque, NM.
Namasté
