Quilted Sunshine (Cheryl's Quilt)

Today, I got one of the best experiences I think those of us who makes things can have--I got to give someone a quilt I made just for them.  And in this case, it was a total surprise for the recipient.

My coworker and friend Cheryl is having surgery next month with an anticipated hospital stay of 3-5 days.  I looked into making a cheerful hospital gown but the ones I found are too garment-like for my non-existent garment sewing abilities.  I did offer to convert a nightgown for her and I'm working on that (I ran out of snaps and have to order more; I'll post what I did once I'm done) but I knew that I also wanted to make a quilt to brighten up a dreary, boring hospital room.

Cheryl is a HUGE Disney fan.  I've participated in a lot of I Spy swaps over the years and some allowed licensed character fabrics while others did not.  I keep any licensed character 5" squares separated from my regular 5" I Spy squares.  So my first step was to look to see what I had.  Several Mickey or Minnie, Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Snow White & Belle, 101 Dalmatians, Sully from Monsters INC, Tinkerbell, and Olaf.  Okay, great start!  I also pulled Hello Kitty, Snoopy, and some Dr. Seuss characters.

I decided to alternate I Spy squares with bright colors.  I went into my bin of Kona solids and used my Accuquilt to cut scraps into 5" squares. Kona colors used are, in the order that I cut them: Lagoon, Lavender, Leprechaun, Emerald, Marine, Blueberry, Seafoam, Purple, Clover, Robin Egg, Citrus, Lime, Jade, Parakeet, Malibu, Candy Green, Pond, Prussian, Niagara, and Medium Pink.

After I pulled all the Disney characters I had, I started through my I Spy squares to pick the rest.  I picked fabrics I thought Cheryl would like, think were funny, or had significance. 

I bought a Mickey & Minnie fleece print to use for the back.  I love using fleece on the back of my quilts--I don't use batting in these.  The fleece plus the top make a great weight--not too heavy.  I went with a scrappy binding--everything was stuff I already had except for the backing fleece.  The fabrics in the binding are Kona Lime, Blueprint, Hibiscus, Orange, Tomato, Azure, Camellia, and Curry. 

I knew I would see Cheryl today (we work at different locations and don't see each other every day) so I washed it last night and rolled it up, then brought it in this morning.  She was about as speechless as I've ever seen her.  It was fun to see her discover the different fabrics.  I'm so pleased that she liked it and that she will have something cheerful with her at the hospital, as well as at home with her during recovery.