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Friday, July 30, 2010

Breast Cancer church group quilt....

We recently got a really sweet quilt submission from Sarah. She is a busy crafty quilter! Head over to  her blog confessions of a fabric addict for inspiration... Here is a sweet quilt she worked on with other's in her church group for a sick friend....

We recently started a quilt ministry at our church, making quilts for people with serious health issues. This is the story of one of the quilts we made.


Our daytime children’s ministry director, Tammy, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and advised to have a double mastectomy right away. One of the members of the quilt ministry, Cassie, is also a teacher in the daytime children’s ministry, so we wanted to be sure to make something extra special and memorable especially for Tammy.



I had recently been feeling a leading to make a quilt in soft pastels, something definitely out of my comfort zone, and realized that this color palette would be perfect for Tammy. I had a charm pack of Moda’s Kashmir II that I had picked up a while back, so I unearthed it and paired it with some pastel solids from my fabric stash. Using a disappearing nine-patch pattern, I created this simple soft pastel quilt.


While I was working on piecing the top of the quilt, Cassie took the back to the children’s classes. Each child’s hand was traced on the quilt back, with his or her name inscribed inside the outline. This gave us a quilt back that would be very personal and special to Tammy, plus it made the children feel like part of the process too! The assembled quilt sandwich was quilted with straight line quilting on either side of the seam lines - it gives it a simple grid-like pattern that doesn’t detract from the simplicity of the pattern itself.



The completed quilt was given to Tammy at the children’s graduation celebration. I’m pleased to say that Tammy is doing very well and is hopefully on her way to making a complete recovery! Our quilt ministry is as much a blessing to those of us who participate in creating the quilts as we hope it is to the people who receive them. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do what you love and help others at the same time!


Sarah, good luck to your friend Tammy. What a sweet gift to give to a friend in a scary place in life. Thanks for sharing your story...

Linking at http://www.amylouwho.com/

8 comments:

Paulette said...

Sarah, that is such a lovely quilt and lovely gesture for a friend in need! I'm glad to hear she is having a good recovery. May your quilt ministry continue to bless and be blessed!

Larri said...

Beautiful quilt and beautiful story! I'm happy your friend is recovering well. Thanks for sharing. Happy Sewing! :o)

www.seamsinspired.com

Jan M said...

A lovely quilt made even more beautiful by the story behind it. I love the many quilting, stitching and knitting ministries at various churches. Thank you for sharing with us!

p.s.phyllis sews said...

Beautiful story and what a great way to get the kids to share in the caring for their church leader!

Quiltpiecer said...

Such a lovely quilt and beautiful quilt story ... thank you for sharing.

Ron Cooper said...

Beautiful quilt!

Happy summer!

I’m following you from Fun Friday Follow. Please follow me back on my blog “Inspire!”

Ron

http://inspiredbyron.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

I can only hope the quilt I am making for my daughter's carer who had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer is half as lovely. I too am using the kids hands, although slightly differently. I've only just started, but you can check out my progress at the link below.

http://kyliesstitchnsew.blogspot.com/2010/07/healing-hands.html

Rene Sharp said...

Another touching story & beautiful quilt. Hoping your friend recovers quickly!