The Making of a DOCTOR WHO Quilt

I had made quilts for all of my late husband's grandchildren except the youngest one. I have to admit when the last grandchild of my late husband said to make a "Doctor Who" quilt, it wasn't so easy to design it. In my grief, I was hardly being creative anymore. 

A phone booth? I hadn't been watching that long-running "Doctor Who" series, but I found out the phone booth is where the characters go to call the police. Then I read about the little space figures that are in this long-running TV series from the UK, and I wondered how I could use that in the quilt. I had a pocket from one of my late husband's shirt. Not so sure how it would be possible. 

How do you turn a phone booth 

into a quilt?!

Her father made this cardboard phone booth for her.

I started with the phone booth and used jeans fabric for the structure of the phone booth. Jeans fabric is easy to piece you just sew on top. Then the jeans seemed a little harsh, or masculine, so I added some lace. 

My deadline was to give it to this wonderful young lady before I moved from Plant City where she lives. I found some flannel material with those "space figures" in them for the back on the quilt. 

One Thanksgiving

Granddaughter as an infant stole her grandpa's heart. 

A quilt with a little of her late grandfather in it--a pocket from one of his shirts sewn to the back for the use of a cell phone! Her cousins had those grandpa shirt pockets in their quilts. Gradually I got some of my creativity back. I bought flannel with space figures for the back of the quilt and blue and white poke-a-dot fleece for texture and a little warmth for the top and for the side binding. The phone booth sign came from
http://www.spoonflower.com/tags/doctorwho; however, I am not sure they still have it. 

I set out to design it with great tools.

Near the end I had to rush to Lakeland's Fabric Warehouse for help.

Becky and Brandon to the rescue. I hadn't been sewing much since my husband, her Grandfather, passed away last June. This helpful staff came to my rescue and refreshed me on how to use this great Swedish quilt-making machine, a Husqvarna Viking.

I had slept by my husband's hospital bed in a single bed. After the hospital bed left the house, the master bedroom became a sewing room, with a single bed in it. Didn't do much sewing however, until I made up my mind to finish this project before I moved next month. 

I used the stool from the pub table from the den to sit on as this height helped me not have trouble with my carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrist. Yes, I missed that pool table for quilt assembly, but it came together on that single bed. The top of the phone booth even has a place for a pen and a tablet.

Tonight  I heard that this granddaughter is pleased with it! 

Guest Post: Finding Wandering Jake

My friend Sally (not her real name) had quite an adventure with Jake (not his real name) last week. Here is her story.

Our dog needed her toenails trimmed at the dog groomer. That was a quick fix. 

Now on to the jewelers to take Jake's watch in. Jake had left it on the shower ledge and it had moisture on its face. The jeweler was the answer to avoid the watch stopping and rusting.

I parked directly in front of the jewelry store, rolled down the car windows and told Jake to stay in the car with our dog. I would be returning momentarily. 

However, when I returned to the car, there was no Jake and our dog was barking. Panic set in! Where did my husband go? I hadn't been gone but a moment.  

I carried the dog and the two of us set off to find him. Not in a Dollar Store. Not in a laundry. Was he searching for me or for a men's room?  

Finally the barber shop. Jake was contently sitting in a barber chair getting his hair cut. I pretended that this was planned and waited until he finished getting handsome. He did need the hair cut after all. I had the money to pay for it--he didn't. 

I next dropped him off at the Senior Center and shared this episode with the 2 pm Alzheimer's Association Support group. 

Lesson learned: Don't leave my husband in the car alone ever! Do not trust the care of our dog to Jake. And, I am going to start searching for a GPS system to track Jake. He no longer uses a cell phone, although he does have an Alzheimer's bracelet. 

 Sally, Carol's Friend