Last Sunday was Melissa and Derek’s 1st anniversary. When I took on this project I told myself I wanted it done in time for that date. I did get it done, labeled, and shipped on time. Then I had to sit on the photos until it arrived. Unfortunately it didn’t arrive on Friday as I had planned because I had mailed it with a Signature Request so it didn’t get dropped on a front step somewhere at Missy’s house and then rained on or damaged. Of course as luck would have it, she wasn’t home when it was initially delivered so it went back to the post office and she had to pick it up on Monday. It’s all good. It arrived, Missy loves it and my heart is full.

		I’ve Got Your Back VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Back in this post I told you about my cousin Melissa (Missy to me!) and her husband Derek and how as newlyweds they had to face the unthinkable. Derek went on his final journey on January 20, 2011. Missy has been unbelievably strong throughout all of this. Like I said before, she is an old soul, I really admire her.

Shortly after he passed she contacted me via Facebook and asked if I made quilts. She had an idea and wanted help. I immediately, without hesitation offered my services in whatever way I could. Her idea was to make a quilt using Derek’s old dress shirts. She had some images of modern quilts she had seen and liked. She left the rest up to me. I told her to pack them up along with any other accent fabric and backing fabric she wanted used and I’d take  it from there.

The box of fabric and shirts arrived right after our big snow storm last week. I laundered the new fabrics and started gestating ideas. Today is Valentine’s Day, the day for lovers (and angry, cynical, single people, but that is another post.) What better day to get started on this very special project? I thought I’d make a few test squares and post a picture on Facebook for Missy to see and get her reaction. Of course in my usual style, one or two test squares became 4 or 5. But now I have an idea of how to proceed.

There are strange and interesting things outside of the cutting and sewing that are happening while I’m working on this project. I never met Derek in person, never even had an online conversation with him. All I know of him has come from Missy’s posts and stories shared of their life together. But I feel him as I work on this project. Back when we were first married I used to iron Steve’s dress shirts for him every week. It may sound gross but when you iron a person’s shirt, you can smell them in the steam. I don’t mean to say that Missy sent me funky shirts. Not at all, but they do hold an essence of Derek. I think that is kind of the idea of the quilt.

Also when I’m working I usually listen to my iPod. Sometimes I listen to various podcasts and sometimes music. Today I was in a My Chemical Romance mood. At first songs from their Welcome to the Black Parade album didn’t seem at all appropriate, and a little creepy and weird.

But then there was this one:

To carry on
We’ll carry on
And though you’re dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We’ll carry on
And though you’re broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches

On and on….

Or from my favorite MCR song, Famous Last Words:

‘Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I’d never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I’ll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home

Don’t know if Derek or Missy were/are MCR fans but someone was sending me a message. I’m going to try to continue to post progress, images and impressions as I work on this project.

Edited to add: I’m calling this quilt the “I’ve got your back” quilt. Partly for the play on words because it is made out of shirts and because I have the feeling that Missy and Derek really did have eachother’s backs.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

My friend Erin has a great blog: Damknit. Not only does it have one of the most creative and snarky names in craft blog-land but is also a fun read. Erin and I “met” online on a scrapbooking website eons ago. It was because of her that I rediscovered my knitting bug and started blogging and podcasting (briefly!)

She went from being a beginner knitter to spinning her own yarn in record time. She is pretty much self-taught in all her various craft forms. You should see her mad crochet skills! Recently she decided that she wanted to advance her spinning skills and applied for a scholarship to attend SOAR this fall in Oregon. She needed reference letters and I was more than happy to lend a good word or twenty to help her achieve this goal. I was not surprised in the least when she won one of the coveted spots. The thing is is that she lives in Arizona. As I mentioned, SOAR takes place in Oregon. Not exactly right next door.

You see Erin works really hard waiting tables to help support her family. She doesn’t make a lot of money so buying a round trip plane ticket is a real luxury. But in usual Erin style she looked at the problem and set a goal to solve it. She scored a load of decorator samples at a local thrift shop and set to designing an awesome needle holder for interchangeable needle sets. She has been working her fingers and sewing machine to the bone making these and listing them on her etsy shop. All proceeds from the sales will go toward purchasing her plane ticket.

I’m thinking I may just need to invest in a set of Addi Clicks just to have an excuse to buy one of these for myself. Looking at them I think they’d also work great for all those miscellaneous double point sets I have rolling around in the bottom of my knitting bag too. If you have a need for a small, compact, CUTE! needle case this would be the perfect solution. Go now. Buy one, or five!