This quilt started out as a group project using Keyhole Blocks. A group of us in my guild chose to participate, and we followed some basic guidelines. Fabric was to be batiks because batiks tend to blend well together no matter what colours are used. The block was to be a Keyhole Block, and we followed the instructions from Jenny on Missouri Star Quilt Company’s YouTube video here.
Once everyone had their blocks made, our project leader distributed them to everyone. At that point, we could put the blocks together and make a finished quilt.
This sounds easy enough, right?
The competition heated up a bit when we realized that our quilts would be shown on our website! We didn’t want them all to be exactly the same and so the creativity really came out. The results were quilts that all started with the same foundation and then grew in different directions to become completely different projects.
I was dealing with my cat’s serious medical issues while I was making my quilt. The quilt became a good way to take my mind off my worries. Rosie inspired me to figure out a way to make cats out of the keyhole blocks, and eventually the name of the quilt came to me…Rosie’s Angels. The cat blocks are white with colours in the centers of each cat, to symbolize the pure love of an angel and the chakra colours that can heal. A couple of the cat blocks slip off the edge, as angels and helpers of all kinds come in and out of our lives. These cats also symbolize the idea of cats having nine lives. Rosie used up one of them that year, and thank goodness she recovered!
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I am more spiritual than religious. I don’t follow any particular school of beliefs, but I pick up the things that make sense to me and follow my heart to live a good life. So while I am a bit ambiguous about whether angels exist or not, I do like the symbolism that they represent.
This quilt is shared by me and Rosie. When she wants to snuggle in front of the tv, she sits at the side of the chair until I spread out the quilt and tuck it around my legs. Then she jumps up and gets comfortable. We are both wrapped in the loving care of Rosie’s Angels.
