100 blocks

I learned the week before Thanksgiving that my cousin has cancer. He is 10 years older than me and has a loving family of five kids and five little grandkids. Besides that he is the kind of guy who spends his early retirement (he was successful) visiting prisoners. The concurrent chemo-radiation therapy he will be undergoing starting tomorrow is said to be a knockout punch but potentially effective. So I've been sewing him a quilt to hang around the house with.

Today I finished it.

I totally cribbed the design from a Pinterest pin that traces back to Dr. Linda at Sew E. T.

I loved the simplicity, rhythm, and use of different solids in her quilt. I went cool with my neutrals, using a parchment white (has everyone been reading the wonderful discussion of neutrals by Freshly Pieced here and here?) and grays more than tan. I thought the cools would set off the primary colors I was using better (including Connecting Threads' beautiful "Patriot blue").

The idea behind the quilt is: 100 blocks for 100% recovery. And, while Linda called her quilt "Which Direction?" I interpreted the design as sorting out the good cells from the bad. Out with the bad, in with the good.

The quilt contains a bunch of patches from my husband's Hawaiian camp-style shirts. My cousin, who lives far away in California, also loves to sport a good Hawaiian print.

The back is simple. There will be good days and bad.

It's in the mail now. If only a person could do more.

UPDATE: My cousin is cancer free! The family celebrated his complete recovery with a big bash. I could not go, but my brother and family, who lives a couple of hours from them in California, did. Yay!