The Quilt With Three Lives

This quilt is just barely finished and all ready it has had quite the journey and adventure.  I like to say it's all ready had two lives and is now embarking on its third and hopefully final life where it can be loved and cherished for many many years to come.   

Life 1:
This quilt started as a layer cake of fabric purchased by someone else probably with the intent to turn it into a cute quilt. And then a while later it was put up for sale on the Instagram Great Fabric Destash hashtag where I snatched it right up. 

Life 2:
When I got this layer cake of fabric in the mail, I had all the grandest of ideas of what to do with it.  It was so darling and cute and perfect for a little boy (of which I have many in my life).  And so I purchased a bundle of coordinating solids to go with the layer cake with the intent of making it right up into a quilt.  But as life does, somehow, this quilt slid down the priority list and for a while it looked like all hope was lost.  Finally, in January, I had an overwhelming compulsion to make big quilts (plural!) for myself and my husband and my kids.  I had all ready made a large quilt for my oldest son for Christmas so he was safe and I had quilts planned and in progress for myself and my husband.  So that just left my youngest son who is actually turning 2 this Friday! (oh alll the feels with this birthday....)  Started in January, I had all the grandest of plans to make my littlest his first big boy quilt. However, it wasn't until early Mary that I was actually close to finishing the quilt and making a coordinating throw pillow from the left overs. 

Alas - life still has a funny way of changing the grandest of plans.  In between January and now, my littlest developed a passion for all things boy - especially dinosaurs.  One day while picking up a few things in JoAnn's, little munchkin man convinced me to get the dinosaur fabric he just couldn't live without and turn it into a quilt for him - yes, his first big boy quilt is a JoAnn Fabrics Dinosaur Panel quilt which goes against every inch of the quilter/artist in me.  But, Oh, his joy and love for his dinosaur quilt makes it all ok. 

So, there I was with a nearly finished quilt and a matching pillow to boot, and no home for it!  Oddly enough as I was sewing on the binding I was talking with my husband about this dilemma of what to do with this quilt which now had no home.  We talked back and forth of what I could do with it, sell it, give it away, tuck it away in a box for future use....  And then, when I finished sewing in the last few stitches and pulled the finished quilt off of my sewing machine, my husband and I looked at each other and we knew exactly for whom this quilt was meant for all along - a dear friend from what feels like another lifetime who will always hold a special place in my heart.  The colors are exactly her and when we saw the finished quilt, the quilt seemed to say that it couldn't possibly go to anyone but her.  And for no other reason than to remind her that she's loved and hopefully it will bring her comfort in the chaos of having a second child.  Because we should do that every one in a while - we should remind those we care about that we do care about them even when we are miles apart. 

This quilt is being sent off this week to go live with my dear friend and her two sweet little children where hopefully it will have a full 3rd life - a life it was never originally intended for, but somehow perfectly fitting.