A Purple Quilt

After our cat Vector died last August, I didn't feel like doing anything. What matters after the loss of a beloved friend? Not much. All I remember doing for a long while is crying a lot and eating a lot of junk and feeling the emptiness he left behind.

And then I got an idea. I wanted to sell my quilts (at cost of materials only) and donate the money to help other kitties (at our local shelter: Feline Rescue). I started quilting like crazy! Finishing up tops that had been hanging in the closet for years and making quilts from scratch when I had a little extra energy.

The purple quilt was a product of that energy. I wanted to help kitties, I wanted to keep my mind off my own sadness and I wanted to rid my stash of every scrap of purple fabric I could find. (If you've been reading for a while, you know I don't like purple!)

While this quilt top was up on the design wall, my friend Denise came over and fell in love with it. Denise is such a special person and really helped me through the hard time after Vector died. She sent emails and checked in to see how I was doing. Her kind words meant so much to me. I knew I wanted to give her this quilt when it was done.

Sadly, Denise's dog died shortly after Vector. I tried to be the friend she was to me. I finished the quilt as quickly as I could and sent it to her. She offered to pay for it to help my "quilts for cats" campaign but I declined. Quilts for friends are important too.

Despite the sad times in which it was made and the fact that is has SO much purple in it, I actually really love this quilt. I love the mix of colors and the half square triangles (and some hourglass blocks when I didn't have quite enough fabric). I love the business of it and I actually don't mind the purple. It makes me so happy that Denise loves it and I know, because he loved purple and crazy quilts, that Vector would have loved it too.