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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Julie's quilt story, cancer quilt...

Julie from Julie's quilts made this amazing quilt in record time for a dear friend who was diagnosed with cancer. Make sure to read this sweet story about how this quilt came together in record time. So sweet of Julie to put this quilt together. Be sure to visit Julie's Quilts to see some of  her fun projects, she sure has some pretty ones!

When you receive a phone call from your Mom in the middle of the day and she asks you where you are, the news is never going to be good. I told her that I was working at home that day and she then asked if K (my daughter)was in the room with me, I responded "no." She then told me that she had some "not so good news." My heart sank as I knew that "no so good" is code for pretty stinky, really bad news. That is when she told me that our dear friend J had just been diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer.

You see, J is more than a dear friend, she is framily, which made the news that much harder to take. Framily is a friend that is like family. J's husband and my father have been dear friends since 6th grade and I grew up with J and her family. J and my Mom were pregnant together. J and T (her husband) were some of the first people that I told when I got engaged. T gave the blessing before dinner at my wedding reception, they were some of the first people that my husband and I told when I was pregnant with first K and then N. They are framily that I know would do anything for us if we ever needed them.



So when my Mom told me that horrific news, I knew that I needed to sew something and I needed to get it finished quick. I immediately hopped in the car with K and headed to the fabric store. On my way there, my Aunt N called me. She is the quilter who inspired me to start quilting and told me that she wanted to help me with the quilt and told me about a quilt that she made for her sister-in-law. With that J's quilt was born. I returned home and got on the internet while my Aunt headed to her quilt store clear across the country (California...and I live in NY) and I looked at fabric while she looked in her store ((Oops-A-Daisy by Keiki for Moda) . My Aunt N and her quilt group made the nine patch blocks on the front, cut my inner border and made my binding.

Fabric was put in the mail and I immediately started to reach out to J's family, friends and framily to have them send me their left hand print. I set out to make J a quilt with the hand prints of all those who love her and support her...to wrap her in love while she kicked cancer in its behind. The response was overwhelming and I knew that I was not going to have enough fabric. While on a business trip, I stopped at one of my favorite little quilt stores and low and behold, they had just received some fabric from this line in the prior day. The fabric for the nine patches on the back as well as the cute white flowers on the back were added to the quilt.

There are 47 handprints and puppy prints that were sent to me from all across the country. The out pouring of love for J was amazing. I had never appliqued a quilt before in my short quilting time and took this on knowing that it was for someone who my family loves and is praying for. I finished the quilt in 3.5 weeks, start to finish, which is a record for me. Through every snip of the scissors, stitch that was made (and ripped out- there were quite a few as I quilted half of the quilt and ripped it all out because it was not good enough for J), prayers were said for her healing.

My Dad and his friend, also part of the framily, flew to Florida to deliver the quilt to J in September. I wish I could have been there with them, but know that J was wrapped in our love, support and our prayers.

I thought she was the one who could beat cancer, that she would be one of the 5% that do, but God had other plans, J went to heaven on Tuesday, November 8, 2011. I hope that the quilt can bring comfort to her family just as it brought her comfort during her battle.


We love you J!


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10 comments:

Dee said...

Cancer isn't a "one patient" disease. My mom has it and is on maintenance chemo now...so this is especially touching for me. Thank you for your heart to reach out to everyone affected and include them.

Huge hugs to those struggling with cancer...whether the patienct, family or friends!

Pat Merkle said...

Such a wonderful story. My mom, who has inspired me to quilt, passed away from cancer in 2010. Her last days I spent sewing, with her in the room.

Josie McRazie said...

My prayers to you and your Framily. What an amazing gift for her family to have from you and they know it was made with such love!!

Gina Loomis said...

A beautiful quilt and beautiful story. I'm certain the quilt gives J's family much comfort. I make prayer quilts for my church ministry. I pray while sewing and then everyone ties prayers into the quilt (for a tied quilt). I love your idea with the applique hands. Thanks for sharing your story.

Flo @ Butterfly Quilting said...

Touching story and beautiful quilt. A nice way to give family and friends an opportunity to share and give support.

Heidi Staples said...

Praying for you today. I'm working on a quilt right now for a dear friend of my husband's family who has just been diagnosed with advanced cancer. My mother-in-law had friends and family write on blank quilt blocks which I'll be putting together into one big quilt and mailing off to her in the next week. I think it helps for family to have something they can do, and it helps the loved one to have tangible evidence that they are wrapped in our love.

Cherie said...

That is such a gorgeous quilt, my Aunt also has cancer and is starting on a new wave of chemo. Things have been hard for her, but she has a lot of support from family in London.

Sheila said...

A very touching story and I am sure your dear friend felt all the love you sewed into every stitch and now each time her family looks at this quilt they will think of you and your love for them. :-) hugs to you for being such a caring person .

Jackie said...

Now that was a tear jerker!

Lori said...

Im so sorry for your loss.
The quilt is fabulous.