I've spent a great deal of time today working on my grandmother's quilt. Mostly planning, because I am very new to this and some of the more complext block patterns made me run screaming from the room. I think I have a good plan now, though, although I will probably have to go to the fabric store and get a yard of something here and there.
To recap: Last year Grammy started sewing a quilt for me as a wedding gift, using various purples because that's my favorite color. The quilt was going to be 5 blocks by 6 blocks, but she was only able to get 3 rows of 5 done before the cancer in her brain took away her fine motor skills to the point where she could no longer sew. She passed away in early August of this year, with the quilt unfinished. I made sure she was told before she passed that I intended to finish the quilt, and my aunt was kind enough to bring the fabric and supplies home with her. I tried to work on the quilt in the summer, but it was just too painful--my grief was much to fresh to work so closely with such a tangible reminder of my grandmother. I've had some time to process the loss now, and although it still hurts (and probably always will to some extent) I feel able now to finish her quilt and have it actually be something healing for me.
This is my plan for the quilt; hopefully I can actually pull it off. Lucky for me there isn't a deadline! I'm going to join Grammy's blocks together and frame them with sashing, then create my own blocks to go around the outside. The "card trick" blocks will mostly still be Grammy's fabric; the "double x" blocks and sashing will be fabric I already have or will be getting within the next few days. I think she would like it.
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Miss you so very much, Grammacita.
