I have always loved the poem "Footprints in the Sand."
In the hospital I had a small private room. The walls, curtains and bedspread were all light blue. It was boring and I was going to be there for a while. I had to wrack my brain to think of which quilt I had *finished* that Axel could bring me and remembered this.
How terribly appropriate! Those two weeks contained some of the longest, most worrisome days of my life. The poem and it's special meaning came to mind several times a day.
We were truly carried through this ordeal. Not only by our maker but also by your kind words and thoughts. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends - throughout the world, many of whom we have never met. You are our guardian angels.
I made this quilt quite a few years ago. I am not exactly sure when. I do remember having a sewing night with my friend, Wanda, with my Featherweight on her card table. Her pesky cat kept sticking it's nose up against my needle and pawing at my thread - both very dangerous - but funny too.
The primary fabric is "Footprints" by Andover purchased many many years ago in my very own little shop. The blues are a mix of many lines - I think there are eight different ones.
The block pattern is "Lost Ship" in a topsy turvy kind of setting. Lost Ship is most often set very orderly with the heavy end of the larger triangle all facing the same direction like this. I needed that movement and chaos to reflect the feeling of being lost at sea. The finished quilt measures 48" x 68" / 122cm x 173cm.
It was long-arm machine quilted by Barb Dau of Everett, Washington. I asked her to quilt it to reflect water washing up on the beach ... the lines that are left as it ebbs and flows. She did a fantastic job! Here's a close-up.
Most of my visitors and the nurses had never heard of the poem. A very dear friend of Axel's sent us a card and small book after the babies were born. "Footprints: The True Story Behind the Poem That Inspired Millions" by Margaret Fishback Powers. Axel read it out loud chapter by chapter in the week after we came home from the hospital. It was an inspiring story but I had no idea there was so much controversy behind the authorship. Another friend sent a Youtube link featuring the poem but I can't find it now.
With the scraps of this quilt I made a small wallhanging.
I machine quilted this in the ditch and then painstakingly hand-quilted the border and a diagonal section through the center adding freshwater pearls and sea glass beads. I can't remember how big it is.
I gave it away and still wish I hadn't. I love it even more than the big one.
If you are interested I still have two kits to make the large quilt.
My little one was made with my leftovers but I'm pretty stingy
... you might be able to squeeze it out too.
