Denim contemplations

I've been doing some denim contemplation today.  As a fabric, it's thickness can make it tough to sew, it contains lot of lint that accumulates everywhere, and  its cut edges tend to unravel easily.  However, using nice sharp scissors, sturdy needles, regular sewing machine cleaning, and lots of stitches you can handle it really well.  Once the problems are handled, the end product is so worth it.  The denim is soft, sturdy, durable and oh so very comfortable.  It's good for my soul.

It sometimes reminds me of people.   They may be tough on the outside, carry baggage, and need special handling, but once you get past that and see their soul...it's all worth it.

And making a quilt for someone who's sad or hurting is something I'm drawn to do.  I never seem to know the right thing to say to help the hurt...sometimes there are no words at all.  So I quilt...it says it all.

Here's some of my early quilts that were made to help someone deal with something in their life...

This quilt was made for a little girl named Sabrina.   She's the very young daughter of a friend of a friend and was going through some scary medical testing at the time.  I never heard what the outcome of all that was, but the quilt helped comfort her and her mom at the time.

These quilts were made, with the help of my friend Shelly, as Christmas gifts for 3 young children for the Project Mary.  Our Child Study Club adopted a family from the Pregnancy Care Center to help make their Christmas special.  Airplanes, flowers and bugs adorned the centers of these quilts made with love and comfort.

This was my first denim pillow made in 2002.  It was made for a young boy.   His dad, a police officer, was in the Army Reserves and was called to serve overseas.  All this made the little boy very uneasy and was having trouble dealing with the fact his dad would be gone.  To comfort the boy and make him feel a little safer, I made this pillow to 'deputize' him.  Complete with badge and handcuffs....he was prepared to be the man of the house.  His mom said he was thrilled and really helped him deal with his situation.

This quilt was made in 2003 for a friend's nephew.  He was going through chemotherapy and only had the energy enough to play his gameboy at the time.  The quilt has one large pocket to keep his gameboy...I appliqued a gameboy peeking out using my son's as a pattern.  There's also a couple of fabric pockets on the side for extra games.  I heard he really liked his quilt.  I also heard recently that he made in through all his chemo and is now a cancer-free 22 year old.  What a blessing for his family.


These are just a few of my quilted 'words'.  Hope you enjoy them and are inspired.