When the going gets tough...

The tough go quilting.

When life goes sour there are many ways to deal with it. You can go into a funk and rant against fate. You can lash out at others in hope that it will make you feel better. You can ignore the situation and hope it will all just go away.

OR you could go quilting.

Quilting?

That's right. When life gives you lemons make lemonade or others will do it for you.

For example, a friend's mother recently passed away and it hit her hard. Words can only give comfort at the moment. Its those times late at night and in the privacy of your own home when this type of loss becomes most difficult. This is when quilters have a unique type of lemonade.

Enter the comfort quilt.

Comfort quilts are made specifically for those times when you need a little extra something to hang onto, to keep you warm and dry your tears.

In this case the friends made blocks for a quilt with my friend's mother's favorite motif... penguins! Here is what we came up with:

Is this not a wonderful quilt?

We ended up with 15 different blocks (two are on the back). I had the priviledge of putting the top and back togeher, another friend did the quilting and binding and another made and attached an embroidered label. The whole thing is about 90" x 108" - a little bigger than originally planned but I don't think it could have been smaller.

The techniques ran the gamut from traditionally pieced blocks to very detailed paper pieced blocks. Every type of applique is represented and each is unique. I am in awe of all the work put into this project by such a large cast of characters.

The next time life hands you or a friend a body blow consider answering it by making a comfort quilt for yourself or others. Any size will do and you will receive comfort in the making and give comfort in the using or gifting.

BTW - Its tough to get sixteen people in one place at one time and keep it a secret. We gave our friend her quilt at a local Starbucks where some of us meet to knit. About half of us made it. I need to thank Starbucks for putting up wth us and our antics. The staff and other customers were very generous in making sure we had all the space we needed to give and display this special quilt. I hope the rest of the friends get a chance to see this collaboratve quilt in person.