Devastating news but a wonderful project

June  2010

Back at the end of April I received the awful news that my dad of 87 was suffering from stomach cancer and that all they could offer him was palliative care.

Naturally I’ve been taking care of him so there’s not much stitching been going on………. up until now that is.

I’ve started on a wonderful project that’s going to keep me busy for some time to come.


The idea for this project actually came from dad himself, because as part of his treatment he’s being cared for by the fantastic staff at St Clare Hospice in Hastingswood, Essex, where they have a day care facility and also an in-patent unit.

It was whiles dad was staying there for a few days having treatment , he was sitting in a recliner chair looking out over the lovely gardens.  He said that he could really do with the quilt that my friend Nicki sent him from Switzerland back in May.  Although there were thin fleecy type blankets there he thought the quilt would be more snuggly.

Now, by the end of the day we had hatched a plan.

If I could get Nicki to help me by doing all the machining, then I would stitch enough squares to make a quilt for each of the eight rooms and may be a cushion to match.

So, a quick phone call to Nicki and we had ourselves one humongous project to keep us busy for who knows how long.

The planning gave me quite a lot to think about, colours, designs and materials all had to be thought about quite carefully as the finished quilts would need to be unisex in the design and obviously quick and easy to wash.

Nicki suggested that bedding fabric would be a good choice for the quilts and that if I could find double duvet covers in a sale somewhere she would have enough fabric in each one to make two quilts and the cushions.

Luckily I have a Linen's Direct quite close by where I found almost exactly what I was looking for. 
I didn’t particularly want Pink but as they only do the quilt covers in these four colours I'll have to go with it. 
I kind of like the idea that all eight quilts will be the same, but different. 

Dad loves the colours too and has offered to pay for them…….……..his way of doing something to the project.

The designs were a little trickier to find but eventually I came across some geometric designs on line, which I tweaked a bit to make them large enough for the squares.


Next up was the White Aida and DMC plain dyed and variations threads which I ordered from my favourite on line needlework shop Sew and So

I’ve already made a start on the first Blue quilt, stitching while sitting keeping dad company at the hospice and will soon have all the squares for it ready to pack up and sent out to Nicki.