A Quilt for Dr. Q

Today is the day I gifted a quilt to my cardio-vascular doctor, Dr. Q. He is a wonderful physician and has taken excellent care of me. I cringe to think what condition I'd be in now, without his medical expertise.

I was in his office today for a follow-up to last week's carotid ultrasound and echocardiogram. I was relieved to learn that plaque in areas are normal. Whew. There's no explanation as to why I have PAD (peripheral artery disease) so severely in my legs, and not elsewhere. It's most common that a person who has plaque built-up in one area of the body will have it everywhere. I'm an anomaly, and darned happy about it!

So after the diagnostic part of my visit, and learning that in three months I'll have a STRIDE test to determine how the blood is flowing in my legs - I'll always being monitored - I had the fun of telling him I'd made him something. By the way, that stack of papers under the wrapping is my arterial history for the past 2-1/2 years!

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing his reaction, and by every indication, he was genuinely touched. 

After opening the quilt, he said that he had been gifted many things over the years, but that this gift was really special.

I couldn't be more proud! I love this quilt for it's graphic quality, dramatic colors (Kona shadow, steel, charcoal, ruby, brick, orange, and curry) and distinctive air of masculinity. Perfect for a man. 

I put my best into Rebel, a pattern by Libs Elliott, in spite of my Pfaff Grand Quilter giving me fits of exasperation during quilting - many skipped stitches and broken threads. The textural quilty goodness shows best on the back. 

Batting is a single layer of Quilter's Dream Request loft poly. Using Aurifil 50-weight thread in my Bernina Aurora 440 with a walking foot, I first quilted five spirals of varying sizes. Those filled up more than half of the quilt. Then using my Pfaff, I went in between spirals to quilt designs that were appropriate for the shapes.

 

Rebel measures 70" X 71", suitable for cuddling under, or hanging on a wall. Wouldn't it look great in an office? In fact, when I suggested that he could either take it home and use it, or hang it on a wall, he said he'd like to hang it in his Ocala office. We're going to talk more about that at a later time, as I have offered to sew a hanging sleeve on it.

On the middle lower left side the one whole patch that's red is the "rebel" block. I intentionally quilted a heart in that block! Yikes! Many of you know how much I dislike hearts in any quilting design, but it's my respect for him and his profession that overroad my personal distaste for heart motifs.

A heart for a heart doctor

I pieced the quilt back attempting to use up fabrics from the quilt front. In fact, I did such a good job that I ran short and had to add a different solid grey to all the Konas in this quilt. You can see the greenish-grey Moda Bella solid in the upper and lower right.

Thanks Debbie and Frances for being my quilt-holders on a sunny, hot, blustery day.

Dr. Q. has taken exemplary care of me and this quilt honors him for that.

Linda