The Quilt I Didn't Want to Make

 

Deployment Quilt 102 x 80

It hasn't escaped me that I've been working hard on other quilts so that I don't have to think about the quilt I didn't really want to make.

Now that Tony has his itinerary for Combat Training with a quick follow on to Kuwait, it seems as if he really is going, so now, I've had to quickly finish the family album quilt that I designed for him before his last deployment was canceled.

I'll beg Chris to get it quilted before the other two so that he can have it soon after he gets there. I put a surprise for him on the backing fabric, and I'll post that in April after he's seen it.  I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.  I hope it will make him feel wrapped in our love and at home even though he is far away.

The quilt design is very loosely based on a design I saw years ago by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle of Fun Quilts.   I haven't been able to find an image of it, so I'm not sure how close it is to the quilt that inspired it.  I tried to make it almost bedspread size for a twin bed, but since the design is simple, it wasn't too frustrating manipulating all that fabric.

I noticed a couple of things as I was making it that I didn't think about before.  My element is water, and Tony's is fire, so when we're together, there is a nice balance.  Notice the teal of this quilt and the watery look of the marbling (Tony asked for teal). It will be good for him to be submerged in my element each night so that he doesn't get too out of balance.  Also, I noticed that all the pictures I've chosen have at least two members of our family in them.  I have plenty of lovely individual pictures, but without realizing it, I made sure that each of these pictures showed the importance of the group and not the individual.

Since my quilt that has wool batting is just as comfortable in the summer as it is in the winter, I hope this quilt will be comfortable in Iraq.

I sped through this quilt, so I'm glad the design was simple.  I'll be happy to deliver it to Chris.  Tony's leaving is painful and scary, but working on the quilt made it even more real to me.  Now that it's done, I can settle in to enjoying his company for two more weeks before I have to wave goodbye for a year (he'll come home for two weeks at some point, but we're not sure when).

Now that this is done, I'll get back to work on all the other UFOs awaiting my attention.