04 February 2015

A little help from my friend

Actually A LOT of help. In 2013 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I started a hand sewing project to take with me while I waited for appointments and had chemo. This was the project. I worked on it for a while but fairly soon I developed neuropathy (numbness) in my hands and feet from the chemo. I stopped working on the "recovery project" and just let it gather dust. In 2014 when Judith's daughter, Ellen, came to visit, she asked for the project so she could have a calm hand project to take with her or do at home to veg out doing something meditative. When I went to the Crow Barn  this past September, Ellen tried to give it back to me. She must have works hundreds of hours on this project taking teeny tiny stitched assembling all the pieces.


 I told her she should keep it since she did 95% of the piece. Yesterday I received this in the mail.


It was the completed English Paper Pieced project with a sweet note.




It is made of squares and diamonds which finished out at 1.5"


 Now I have to think of a way to quilt it. This is where you come in. Take your time, put on your thinking caps and suggest ways to quilt this. An example would be 1/2" rows of horizontal quilting. Please help me finish this beautiful project in a quilt pattern that is pleasant to look at and at the same time one that will stabilize the hand stitching.
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9 comments:

  1. Carmina04 February, 2015 04:33

    It is a great work! I do not think it looks good an complex quilting. I would sew a line (maybe a colorless thread) which follow very close to the line joining the pieces ... very discreet, because the pattern pieces created is very important.

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  2. Anonymous04 February, 2015 04:40

    How kind of your friend, I don't think I'm of using making suggestions, as I'm not very good at quilting patterns! So I would have to go for a very simple solution.

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  3. Maggi04 February, 2015 05:52

    This is beautiful. I agree with you that simple quilting would work best but instead of straight horizontal lines, how about following the line of the pieces horizontally so that it retains the movement that is in the quilt.

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  4. Judy Sall Fiber Art04 February, 2015 07:27

    I would do stitch in the ditch one way. Fabulous color and pattern! Very sweet of her to do that... lots of patience there!

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  5. Ineke04 February, 2015 08:21

    I also think I would follow the lines because of the movement. Beautiful piece and very kind of your friend.

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  6. elle04 February, 2015 17:57

    WOW! Simple is best. Hard to imagine the size. I'd echo the shape but not sure if it works for that size.

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  7. Penny Schine Gold04 February, 2015 18:48

    Wow, this is so beautiful! And what a thoughtful gift back to you. I agree totally that you don't want the quilting to compete with the movement of the quilt. Are you able to do hand-quilting? If so, one possibility would be to just inside the perimeter of each shape. That might make more obvious which shapes are squares and which diamonds, which may or may not be a good thing. If by machine: Stitching in the ditch sometimes is sometimes a cop-out, but here I think it makes sense, in either one or both directions.

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  8. Carole @ Fresh off the Frame04 February, 2015 23:53

    No stitch-in-the-ditch if the seams are pressed open...you wouldn't be stitching on fabric at all, just on top of the stitches, compromising their integrity. I would follow along beside the ditch, though. I think you could do parallel lines following the zig zag of the piecing - as dense or loose as you choose - and it would look great!
    Accepting help honours the giver as well. Love flows both ways! I also had breast cancer with chemo, mastectomy, radiation, and (recently) reconstruction, so I speak from experience. Isn't it wonderful to have a friend do such a kindness for you!

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  9. Sketchbook Wandering09 February, 2015 22:56

    Not a quilter, but simplicity would seem to be in order...As for the piece & the story: WOW!!!!!

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