Things for Boys

Sewing, baking and making

A Happy Quilt with a Sad Story

by 32 Comments

quilt

A few weeks ago, Roman’s friend’s Dad died. She is a friend from his kinder class and everyone in the kinder community was shocked and upset. We all wanted to help in some way but had no idea what we could do. What would a family who has just lost their father/husband need?! We’ve organised a dinner roster for the next couple of months, but when I was talking to some friends about how to help, one said ‘When bad stuff happens to people, I make them a quilt’ (thanks MsMidge). The idea floated around in my head all day and then kept me up all night. In the morning I had a plan!

quilt

I spoke to the kinder teacher and we both thought it would be lovely to get all the kids in the class involved in making a quilt for the girl. Roman said her favourite colours were pink, yellow, orange and red. For someone who doesn’t call themselves a quilter, I was able to use fabrics from my stash for all of the quilt except the binding. I cut out all the squares over the weekend and laid them out until I found an arrangement I was happy with. I glue basted the squares into pairs and then got a machine all ready for class.

quilt

To get the kids involved and have a bit of fun, I took a vintage Singer hand crank machine in with me. Instead of a motor, it has a handle that you wind to turn the needle. The kids had a blast! They were so well behaved and made a nice little queue, taking it in turns to turn the handle. The boys especially loved it because they were allowed to go as fast as they could. I did the steering of the fabric, making sure the kids were well away from the needle. It was a great introduction to sewing for the kids and I had a lot of fun too! In the few hours I was there the kids managed to piece all the squares into strips. When I got home, I put the strips together and finished off the top.

vintagesewingmachine

All the kids were very excited to see the finished quilt and shouted excitedly ‘we made that?!’ So cute! The quilt will be wrapped up and given to the girl by her Mum. I didn’t want to make a big presentation of it and upset her or something. I embroidered a little message into one of the squares ‘Made with love by all your kinder friends 2015’.

vintagesewingmachine

For the quilting, I chose a cross hatch pattern, but offset it so that the pattern makes a diamond inside each square, rather than a cross. I love the effect! It is quilted in a lovely pink Aurifil 40wt.

I am so in love with this binding. I think all my future quilts might have bias gingham binding on them! This is my third quilt and my first time putting binding on totally by machine. I was going to finish it by hand, but decided that would take too long, so finished it on the machine. It’s neater than I was expecting.

quilt

The idea of her being able to wrap herself up in love from all her kinder friends makes me smile. Have you ever made a quilt for a friend in need?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Oh Abby, what a beautiful idea and such a special way to get all the kids involved. I have tears reading this and I’m sure this stunning quilt will bring the little girl at least a small amount of comfort during such a devastating time. Love to her and her family if they read this xxx

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  3. What a wonderful and kind gesture Abby. To get all the children involved was a wonderful idea.

    Well done you..

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  6. So thoughtful and practical to involve all of the children in this timely gift for their classmate. It is so difficult to know what to do. This was a lovely idea.

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  7. Looks fantastic! What a lovely idea and also activity for the kinder kids. The little girl will love and treasure it 🙂

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  11. This was such a beautiful thing to do, Abby. Not only would it be an uplifting physical and psychological comfort to the family, but also those classmates/children have been show that they can make a difference and that they can be powerful enough to support and care for each other..a beautiful idea and quilt and precious experience for all…thank you for sharing.

    My sister-in-law gave me the very great privilege of sewing together a quilt when her husband had terminal cancer. She asked all his friends from many different parts of their past and present to represent any moment of their shared memory on a 10 inch square piece of calico. Embroidered, painted and appliqued sqares arrived from all around the world and many of them illustrated a prank or amusing moment in his life. My brother-in -law passed 4 days after the quilt was completed while resting under the quilt looking out at the view of the sea from his lounge window. While I wish he could have enjoyed the memories ( from diagnosis to passing, he had only 4 months!) and love that the quilt represented for longer it certainly eased his and the family’s final days.

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  12. That’s a beautiful and thoughtful gift Abby I’m sure she will love it for many many years. I hope the family are coping as best they can.

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  13. Several years ago my friend and I worked in the same office with about 12 other women. One of the women we worked with was diagnosed with Lung cancer. We worked in a hospital and knew what was going to happen. My friend and I started working on a quilt for her to cuddle with and know that her friends were with her. After several months Linda passed away with herself wrapped up in the quilt. We were all so saddened by this but then comes the unexpected part. Her daughters( Two of them) made up a mock adoption certificate specifiying who gets custody of the quilt this month.

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  14. Lovely quilt and a lovely idea to get the children involved – the way you did that with a non-electric machine and doing the steering yourself was a great idea too.
    Yes I have made many quilts for babies and children in need at my local Women’s Shelter, and when my young friend – mother of 3 children under 5 – and neighbour across the street got cancer I immediately made her a quilt. She is fully recovered now (not that I am saying my quilt is responsible for that! ha ha)
    It is a lovely thing to do to make quilts for comfort and for comforting.
    Pauline

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  15. What a lovely idea, especially involving the children, they have all learnt that we can all have a part to play.
    I made a memory quilt once for a friend and her mum, who had terminal cancer, for them to snuggle under and watch movies or talk, and once her mum had gone she was to wrap it around herself and remember the good times with her mum…..her mum has now gone and it sits on my friends bed.

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  17. I came to look at this post because the quilt was so pretty, but, after reading the story, I can see that the love behind it is even more beautiful. You could have made the quilt by yourself and that would have been a lovely thing for you to do for that little girl, but, by involving the preschool, you have also made it an important and helpful experience for her friends, as well. Although they will probably only remember it as having fun cranking the handle of the sewing machine, you have given them a chance to express their pain/fear at this scary time, and to comfort their friend, when they otherwise may not have been able to find a way to release their emotions. Great job.

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