A very important quilt (to me) has found a new (permanent) home! **Giveaway?**

Pin It First off, I just realized this is my 101st post!  That's crazy!  I should have a giveaway.  In fact, I think I will!

Riley Blake recently sent me this rolie polie of Lola's Posies by Lila Tueller.  We all love Lila Tueller, right?  I'm not sure why they sent it to me, but I'm definitely not complaining.  If I had the time to do something with it, I would definitely NOT be giving it away.  Unfortunately, in the foreseeable future, I see no future for this bundle of pre-cuts unless one of you does something with it.  So you know the drill!  Leave a comment (any comment) and I'll use that handy dandy random.org thingy-mabobber to pick a winner. I can't commit to a certain day because I'm really freakin' busy, y'all.  But it'll be next week! Sound good?

Now!  Back to the topic at hand!

I sent my Ovarian Cancer Quilt off to California today (that's not it's actual "name", but its actual name is kind of offensive).

California is not its new home!  But it is the home of OASIS of Southern California.  They requested my quilt to display at hospitals in California for the month of September (Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month).

I had to finish hand sewing the binding on just to ship it!  I took a "night off" last night and worked on it from 7pm to midnight.  And today, it shipped.

This quilt was such a labor of love.  I started piecing it (and wanted it to be really simple) when I was home recovering from my hysterectomy. I was in so much pain by the time I got done piecing it, I couldn't walk for a day!  Here it is (from the back side, for some reason - must've been the pain meds) pre-quilting:

I did color trapunto, faux trapunto and dense background filling.

I even included a few hidden messages in the quilting.

So this quilt will be on display through the end of September.  Then it will be shipped back to me.

I made it to donate it for auction to fund ovarian cancer research.  But when a friend of mine saw it, he asked how much I would charge to make one.

First of all, I suck at charging for stuff.  I'm finally growing the courage to charge a fraction of what I should for my quilting, but to be commissioned for a quilt like this?  Yeah, I'm better at giving stuff away.  Not to mention he's a 32 year old bachelor and if I quoted him a price, I would be responsible for his untimely death.

I thought about it for about two minutes and told him that he could have mine.  He's a friend from high school.  Actually, he was more my older sister's friend and just mostly teased me (my nickname was butt chin junior, his nickname was fish lips).  But his sweet mother died last year from ovarian cancer after a 12 year battle. 

I can (and will) always make another ovarian cancer quilt.  For now, this one has found its place in the world.  It will be completed with a personalized embroidered label on the back just in time for his father, whose wife was lost too soon, for Christmas!  And in return, I've been promised a picture of his dad's face when he opens it.

Perfect!