Monday, August 3, 2015

A Quilt for Sagen


I had a power session yesterday to complete the quilting, binding, and label for the comfort quilt I've been making for our neighbor's 12 year old son Sagen, who has an osteosarcoma (bone tumor) on his leg and has been receiving chemotherapy in preparation for surgery probably later this month.  

Sagen and his mom squinting in the blazing sunset with the finished quilt--he loved it!  He asked me, "How did you make this?" and I told him how quilters buy yards of fabric, cut it up into small pieces and then sew it all back together again :).  Here are some details:

I started with quilting the black chains.  I had seen a fun detail on Pinterest where a quilter had interspersed a few zig zag stitches among straight line quilting.  I used my three-step zig zag stitch for this quilt. 
This is what the zig zag detail looks like on the back. I like it!

I then changed thread numerous times to quilt all the green blocks, using a very simple curvy line in the prints. My sister said they looked a bit like hands.  Originally I was just going to leave the white background unquilted, but it looked so unfinished that I quickly did a large meander through.  I left the white squares in the blocks unquilted for variety. You can see the green print on the edges that I used to for the binding.

The backing was another Pinterest idea, a "zipper" style, with a simple piecing technique.  I had to do this because of MATH problems--I had not ordered quite enough of the striped flannel from Connecting Threads so bought some black flannel from my local fabric store to expand the backing.  I then had so much of the flannel left that I made a matching pillowcase.


Here is Sagen wrapped in his quilt.  I named it "Love and Luck" and told him that the "hands" in the blocks could either be the hands of all the people helping him, or the hands he's going to high five when he beats cancer.  I also told him the significance of the red block, the heart of the quilt where all the extra love is. He loved it and the pillowcase--his mom said he always brings his own pillow to the chemo sessions.  We're all pulling for you, Sagen!

13 comments:

Samplings from Spring Creek said...

The quilt is beautiful. Yes there are those out there in the population who think quilters might be nuts to buy yards and yards of fabric, cut it into small pieces and sew it back together. You have to be a quilter to understand this

Chantal said...

Congratulations Annie. So precious and beautiful!!
Good luck Sagen. ♥

Anonymous said...

A shame so young has to go through so much but he must be thrilled knowing you care so much!

Quilter Kathy said...

What a wonderful quilt! And such a special gift... great job Annie...high five!

Phyllis in Minnesota said...

Beautiful quilt - Beautiful child. I'm sure the quilt will give him strength to heal his body. Blessings to both of you

Janet O. said...

This is so heartwarming, Annie. Good for you doing such a nice thing for this young man as he faces cancer down! He looks very pleased!

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

A gift of love to treasure forever; I know that Sagen can feel the power of that love. Bless you, Annie!

Kate said...

Beautifully done. I like the little zigzag stitch too. Sagen looks very happy with his quilt.

Dawn said...

The smile on his face says it all! What a beautiful gift.

Sherrill said...

That turned out so AWESOME, Annie, and such a sweet thing to do! Sagen looks like he totally loves him and I bet he'll take that whenever he needs a little extra love and comfort!

Abby and Stephanie said...

A very special and heartfelt gift for a very brave young man.

Mary said...

This is a great quilt for a little boy. I really like the zipper pattern in the back and the 3 step zig zag stitches in the quilting.

Tanya said...

I love that interspersed zig-zag quilting. Great idea! Sagen looks like a very happy little boy. I said a prayer for his health.

Design Wall Monday--Catching Up

 Design Wall Monday --See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog.  I disappeared for awhile, due to computer issu...