One of my friends is going through a tough time at the moment, it seems whenever she dares to hope that things are going to get better, life throws more bad things at her. I decided to make her a quilt, for the times when she needs a hug but no one’s there to give her one. Quilts always have names, so I called this one the Love and Hugs quilt, for all the love and hugs that are stitched within it.

It’s not a quilt of great beauty, but fabrics are there because they mean something. My starting point was a cute quilt I saw on facebook with chickens on, they all had little name boards too, my friend keeps chickens, very pampered chucks! I went to stay for a weekend one cold winter, she was down to one chicken at that point, so it was in the spare room clucking around as it was too cold outside (there was also an injured seagull in the downstairs toilet, but that’s another story!)

I found a second fabric in Leeds market with cockerels on which co-ordinated colour wise. My friend is also a crazy cat lady, so there is another print with some crazy cats! Her beloved dog was called Blue, he died earlier this year, so the blue squares are for him. The ladybird fabric is left from one of my daughters dresses, so that one represents family. The red just made it ‘pop’ but is also the colour of a big hat she wore to a wedding in the summer.

I needed a quilt I could make quickly, on facebook that day someone asked for a quick quilt design, disappearing nine patches was suggested. I found the instructions and decided that was the one. I made twelve different blocks, each with 9 squares in. Each block is then cut into quarters and rearranged. I decided to put the red one in the middle of each one so that would be the one cut into four. There are several ways to arrange a disappearing nine patch, I chose to have the little red squares going diagonally across the quilt. Once I’d arranged it the quilt went together fairly quickly.

I backed it with a cotton batik I’d bought to make a top with, it had sat in my stash for ages as it’s really pretty fabric, but it really isn’t my colour! It’s very soft pinky beige colours with a chain-stich meander running over it. This chain stitch did mean I could cheat a bit with free motion quilting, I just followed the chain-stitch!! I decided the stitching wasn’t done automatically on a pre-set machine, there was no pattern to it. The first couple of lines I followed went diagonally across the corner, one more before tea I thought…the next line covered 75% of the quilt!!

I hand-stitched the binding and then embroidered a label, following the curves of the chain-stitch. I popped it in the post last week, so I can tell you about it now as I know she’s received it.

Hopefully she will appreciate the love that has gone into it and the meaning that comes with this quilt, because as I keep telling her, she’s worth it.