Project Quilting 11.5 - Give It Away

Whew!  This is the lastest minute last minute finish ever!  A crazy week that involved tech week, costume alterations, flower table prep, dinner with a friend, LOTS of end of trimester tasks at school and well, just life, meant that I did not work on the challenge...or SEW for fun...ALL WEEK!  UUUGGGGGHHH!   But, I really want to finish each challenge in Project Quilting this year. 

So, even with one less hour in my weekend thanks to Daylight Savings I got up this morning and make my challenge piece.  This week's challenge is to make something with the intention of giving it away.

I am in the process of making a T-shirt quilt for the friend of a friend who lost her young adult son.  There is no time line to finish the quilt...I'm just doing bits and pieces when I have time.  When I was cutting apart the shirts a few weeks ago, I could not help to pause and wonder at all the indications of LIFE in those shirts.  The paint stains, the stretched out hems, the favorite brands and teams and the holes.  One hole, in particular caught my eye.  It was a perfect heart shape.

I thought about that for days.  A heart shaped hole.  A mother who certainly has an empty spot in her heart, missing her son.  I didn't know what I would do with that hole, but I knew it would be something. 

This morning I took the bit of shirt that contained the hole, a bit of the sleeve from another of the shirts and a scrap of denim that I had in the sewing room, and made this quick, rather rough looking key chain. 

It isn't quilted.  It meets the challenge on the basis that it's three layers.  It measures less than 2 inches "square."  It's wonky and imperfect.  It will find its way to a broken hearted mom well before the quilt is finished.  I want her to have something to hold on to while I work.

It is a small thing, made with great love.

Linking up with Kim just minutes before the deadline...