Adjani's Quilt
by Marissa A. Huber
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
Adjani's Quilt
I knew someone that had kind of given up on having a family. She had lost her mother, best friend and husband within 3 years a long time ago. She really wanted a child, and I would tell her, "Go do it! Adopt your baby."
When I found out that she was indeed adopting a little girl from Ethiopia, I wanted to make something to show just how proud I was of her. This was a scary, enormous task, but I knew she would be a great mama, and was making the right decision for her (and her beloved dog).
My friend really wanted her little girl to know about her Ethiopian heritage and culture. But it was also important to know her roots in America as well, since many of the important people in my friend's life were gone.
I decided to make a quilt of the world, to literally show how people in two places could be connected through chance. In the quilt, there is an embroidered heart over Philadelphia and one over Ethiopia, with dotted lines and embroidered airplanes showing the circular journey. Needless to say, she loved it. It was really a gift to say,"I believe in you, and everything will be fine."
Thanks for checking my quilt out, everyone.
Technical details:
Fabrics on the front of the quilt are all from Purl Soho in New York City. My friend loves dogs, so the Heather Ross fabrics (she's my favorite fabric designer) are a reference to her beloved dog. The blue is a plain cotton, that was to show off the embroidery mimicking the lines of the continents. The back is a light blue soft lightweight fleece.
I plotted out a map for reference and traced the general outlines in. I cut them out, backed them with interface and bias tape, and stitched them on. I then hand quilted everything together using embroidery floss. I offset the lines of the continents using different colors of blue and green floss free hand to create "waves". It was quite relaxing and was really fun. I stitched everything together with homemade bias tape using another bright fabric.
