The Mourning Quilt

The Mourning Quilt

It's a finish!

60 x 80

hand quilted

My granddaughter Kayla unexpectedly passed away in January 2022 at the age of 17.  Her cause of death is still kind of a mystery but the death certificate after autopsy listed it as "probable cardiac arrhythmia".  Kayla lived with me most of her short life and for a few years I was her guardian so she was more like a daughter than a granddaughter. She and another granddaughter, born 5 weeks apart, came into our lives when my husband was at his lowest point with oropharyngeal cancer - angels that gave him a will to live.   

I've struggled with depression since I was a teenager and I know myself well enough to set daily, weekly, monthly and long term goals or I would spend my days in bed. I set goals I can accomplish because I have a fear of failure (and debt).   After Kayla's death  I knew the grief could consume me so one of my goals was to work on a quilt of hearts every day- Sweetheart, Heart throb, Love, Cardiac Arrhythmia, Broken Heart. 

Most of the 4 inch Hearts are made of scraps - pink, white, red. I alternated light and dark blocks in the quilt. 

I hand quilted about 1/4 inch inside each block with perle cotton #12. I used white thread in the light blocks and red thread in the dark blocks. 

The red tone on tone backing has dragonflies in it. Kayla liked those temporary tattoos and usually wore a dragonfly or butterfly. The strange thing is that a week after she passed away she received a couple of dragonfly tattoos in the mail that she had ordered on line.    I used a tone on tone fabric so the hand stitched hearts would show up. 

I had an extra heart left over that I used for the label. My printing doesn't show up all that well on it. I guess I should have used black instead of red marker.  It reads:

Grandma's Mourning Quilt

Kayla

2004 - 2022

And as for the rest of the story...I finished the quilt a few days ago. That night I woke up to go to the bathroom and strangely enough I thought I smelled Kayla's perfume.  Kayla knew I don't really like strong perfume smells. They make my nose run and my eyes water and sometimes give me a sneezing fit. A few weeks before she died she was wearing a new perfume. I loved it and told her it made her smell like a sugar cookie. That made her smile. 

And then after I went to the bathroom I decided to read a book (The Irish Nanny by Sandy Taylor) as I often do when I wake up in the middle of the night.  And strangely enough after a page or two there was a quote by George Eliot - 

“She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts.”

Like I said...strangely enough...

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Just An Old Fashioned Love Song

Just an old fashioned love song.

And sew on...

 

What's In The Hoop?

Hearts

Probable Cardiac Arrhythmia

Love

Gone in a Heartbeat

Sweetheart

I lost my 17 year old granddaughter a little over a year ago. It was unexpected. She was healthy one day and passed away in her sleep the next. Death certificate listed cause of death as "probable cardiac arrhythmia".  I kind of worked through my grief by making a quilt. 

4 inch hearts in red, white and pink. Most pieces were scraps.

And now it is in the hoop and the hand quilting has begun. 

Big stitch hand quilting with perle #12 in red and white. 

Kayla

December 7, 2004 - January 15, 2022

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Probable Cardiac Arrhythmia

On December 7 my granddaughter would have celebrated her 18th birthday if she had not passed away on January 15th of this year of what the death certificate listed as "probable cardiac arrhythmia". 

I've been making 4 inch finished heart blocks for a quilt to honor her memory - hearts because I loved her with all my heart, miss her with all my heart and her heart is evidently what caused her death. The word "probable" seems to me like her cause of death is still a mystery. As part of the autopsy cardiac genetic testing was performed but they found no defect that would cause her death. She was healthy one day and found dead in her bed the next. 

So, anyway, when December 7 rolled around I celebrated her birthday by finishing up the last 86 blocks I need for my quilt. I now have a total of 300 blocks for a 15 x 20 layout. I also celebrated her birthday by thinking of her but I do that every day. I witnessed the miracle of her birth and that seems like it was only yesterday. 

Kayla

December 7, 2004 - January 15, 2022

And sew on...

 

Hearts

And sew on...

 

Hearts

Here's the latest batch of 4 inch Hearts for a quilt in memory of my granddaughter who passed away suddenly from "probable cardiac arrhythmia". 

The last time I blogged about the hearts a kind lady commented she could send me a few red, pink and white scraps. Never one to refuse a scrap I took her up on her offer. Gosh, she sure has the loveliest "scraps"!  Thank you, Penny!

And sew on...

 

In A Heartbeat

I've been setting aside my red and pink scraps to make 4 inch finished heart blocks. I started making them back in March. I want to use pink and red scraps in other things so thought I should move forward on my hearts.  I will alternate dark and light blocks in the quilt. My goal is 300 hearts (150 dark and 150 light) and I am now 1/3 of the way to that goal. 

I am making this quilt for me in memory of my granddaughter Kayla who passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on January 15 of this year at the age of 17.  The cause of death was "probable cardiac arrhythmia".    

Since Kayla's death I have been reading about a lot of children and teens who have died a sudden cardiac death.  The death of 17 year old Gwen, daughter of Illinois representative Sean Casten, is the most recent one that was in the news.  Gwen Casten died in June of this year and in October the family announced cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia. - "This past June, our daughter, Gwen Casten, died of a sudden cardiac arrythmia. In layman’s terms, she was fine, and then her heart stopped," the Casten family wrote in a statement."

And sew on...

 

Tickled Pink!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is pink. 

Last week I mentioned I had a lot of larger pink scraps around 4.5 to 5 inches in width. So I started pairing some pinks with some grays and started making 4.5 inch (unfinished) HSTs. After that I had a lot of pink 4.5 inch squares and pieces left so I made a second quilt top. 

The pink and gray HST top - 56 x 72

There's lots of different pinks and grays. I don't have a design wall and usually just sew blocks together randomly. For this one I didn't exactly sew the 4 Patch HST blocks together in a totally random manner - I tried to put all the lighter blocks near the top and darker near the bottom as I webbed blocks together.

The second top is a Wiggle Time variation -- I made a version bigger than the pattern  so this top measures 60 x 76. I also made my "wiggles" scrappy but all in pink. 

I hunted around for something to use for the background and came up with an old pink floral in my stash. If I didn't have enough of that I was thinking of going scrappy neutral for the background. 

Some of the lighter pink squares kind of blend into the background but I think after it is quilted with some garlands of flowers in pink thread it will be okay. 

Both quilts will be donation quilts someday when all is said and done. 

And there's more...

If there was enough of the 4.5 inch strip left to cut two 2.5 x 4.5 pieces then I did. And then I made some Hearts for a quilt I'm making for me with red, pink and white hearts. I'm making it in memory of my granddaughter Kayla who recently died from "probable cardiac arrhythmia". 

The hearts have "flippy corners" on the bottom and the cutoffs were made into bonus HSTs which were then sewn into strips of five for a slow moving quilt inspired by a vintage one. 

Then I combined some 4.5 inch scraps with some 2.5 inch scraps and made a couple of Dandy Blocks...

...and a few Bear Paws for the growing collection. 

Speaking of growing collections...I made a few 8 Patch blocks. I had a few 2.5 inch width pieces that yielded four 2.5 x 3.5 cuts so I combined them with some previously cut pieces in that project box. 

While I was in that 8 Patch project box I matched up some previously cut pieces and made a few more blocks. 

Then any 4.5 inch scraps left got cut into squares if possible. Same with the leftover 2.5 inch scraps - squares and/or 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces for the Lego Project box. 

Any pieces less than a 4.5 inch square was sewn into a strip for a future Chinese Coin quilt. 

Then I made a few Horizon blocks for my collection with some 5 x 9.5 pieces. 

Yes, I do have some pink scraps left  - mostly strings and crumbs I think.

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

This, That and The Other Thing and The Other Thing

I like to work on lots of different projects at one time. And that means that a lot of time sewn pieces and parts pile up behind the sewing machine and when blocks are completely finished they sometimes pile up at the end of the ironing board waiting for the final go under the iron. Yesterday I ironed. And this is the story of what I found to iron. 

The Kentucky Crossroads blocks were made in January. I made one back in November to see if I actually could make the block because it was inspired by a vintage quilt. The plan is to use civil war reproduction scraps. 

Postage Stamp Pandemic

I think I now have about 80 or 90 or so of these 8 inch blocks. 

Lynn's Legos

These are 13 inch Lego blocks made Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts) way from 1.5 x 2.5 pieces. I cut those pieces when I have scraps - kind of the end of the scrap fabric chain. My little collection box of pieces was full so I decided to see how many blocks were in there.  This is a pretty slow moving quilt for me and that's okay -- no hurry,, no worry.  (2023 or bust? It's just a load of scrap. 

Hearts

I belong to the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild ( a group of us who like to make and donate quilts). It has been a tradition to make six inch hearts to send to a member when a parent, spouse or child passes away.  Someone's father recently passed away and bright hearts were suggested. I used some butterfly scraps. Butterflies are symbols of metamorphosis.  I need to find an envelope and mail these now so they can wing their way to Bev. 

Speaking of hearts...I also made some four inch Hearts for me. I've been reading up on genetic cardiac disorders, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) and that's what prompted me to make these.   I'm making them in reds and whites. I'll alternate light hearts on dark and dark hearts on light blocks. 

Hearts

The 2.5 inch flippy corners trimmed off of the Hearts were made into HSTs and then sewn into strips for my version of a vintage inspired quilt.  I just whack off those flippy corners with a scissors so they are not precisely trimmed so some HSTs might be wonky as well as the strips and I'm all right with that. 

I've been working on six inch Double Four Patch blocks in an effort to use up a lot of brown scraps. 

I have now finished all 120 blocks - 60 with dark chains and 60 with light chains. I'm going to put these blocks away for now into my "Some Assembly Required" (SAR) box because I just have too many tops piled up right now waiting to be quilted so don't want to keep adding to that pile right now.  And I've already fixed my two boo-boos that had to go under the ripper and needle. 

I also made Jacob's Ladder blocks (webbed together at the moment) with brown scraps so I have a lot of 3.5 inch and 2 inch brown and cream scraps - scraps of scraps- you know how those scraps breed faster than rabbits.  Well, anyway, I used up some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps and made some Four Patches I matched up mostly with yellow scraps since yellow scraps were out since it is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

Some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps were cut into four 2.5 x 3.5 pieces and matched up with some pieces from the Eight Patch project box. I have quite the accumulation of these blocks now. 

3.5 inch brown scraps less than a square were sewn into strips for future Chinese Coins quilts. Gosh I have quite a collection of these strips too. 

I used the brown and cream 2 inch scraps to make Little Bow Ties to add to my collection. I had to fix one little boo boo. 

I used the 3.5 inch and 2 inch cream scraps left over after making the Jacob's Ladder and Double Four Patch for the center and corners of Puss in the Corner blocks. The 2 x 3.5 inch sides were cut from homespun scraps left over after making a few quilt tops with homespuns and plaids.   These light cornered Puss in the Corner blocks will alternate with some dark cornered ones already made. 

A few miscellaneous blocks that got made when I came across scraps of a certain size. Horizon blocks are made from 5 x 9.5 scraps and the Bear Paws from 2.5 and 4.5 scraps. I have quite the collection of both of these blocks and at year end (if not before) will make them all into donation quilts. 

I also put some longer brown 2 inch scraps into the Trip Around The World (TATW) box. And there's a pile of brown 3.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a pile of two matching 3.5 inch squares for future Four Patches. There's a little pile of 2.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a few pieces for the box of Legos. 

And finally, I ironed some wonky QSTs and trimmed the dog ears. Someday they will all go into my version of a vintage inspired quilt. I have quite the accumulation of these and a center block made. Won't these be fun to put together!

And sew on...