Recently, I came across a quilt that I had started many years ago but had not completed. At the time, there was no free bed on our floor where I could spread it out to work on it, so I folded it into a garbage bag and placed it in a storage trunk in my room. Then, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2020, I had to move down to the Infirmary, leaving my bigger room upstairs, and of course forgot all about the unfinished quilt.
How did I ever get involved in such a big project? My good friend in North Carolina had purchased the materials for the quilt. I think we were making it for her bed as she had worn out her previous one. She had cross-stitched half of the squares and I did the other half. Then I sewed them all together, added the batting, and the backing.
After that, I spread it out on a bed and quilted the entire top. That took a couple of years until we needed the room for a guest sister from Africa. So, I never got to complete quilting the outer edges of the quilt, nor hemming it. In the meantime, my friend died unexpectedly of acute leukemia in the spring of 2021.
This brings me to the present time. I’m working on sorting through things in that room and deciding what to let go of, and getting help doing it. That’s when we came across the garbage bag with the unfinished quilt in it. I brought it down to the Infirmary, where I have settled in my older years. I requested a room with a free bed, and spread it out.
It looks lovely and attracts a lot of attention. I’ve set up shop, quilting when I have time and when my hand, which often feels numb, allows me to work. I can manage no more than one hour a day. The patience needed is with myself, with fingers that don’t work like they used to and with so little accomplished each time I sit down to stitch. It will all happen, and someone will be happy for this lovely quilt when it is finished. Quilts are works of art and endurance!