The Color Purple

Purple has always been my sister's favorite color. Actually, saying that purple is my sister's favorite color is an understatement...my sister LOVES purple and anything that is purple! Lately purple has a new meaning for our family, because it is also the awareness color for Hodgkin's Lymphoma and my sister was recently diagnosed with that awful disease. She spent over a week in the hospital last month for diagnostic testing and to begin chemotherapy treatments. During one of my visits to the hospital she asked if I would make her a purple "Linus Blanket". I had the idea of making her a quilt as soon as I found out that she was sick and I had started collecting purple fabrics even before she asked. So much for the surprise...I had to tell her that I had one in the works special just for her. Now that my sister knows I'm working on a quilt for her I can share bits and pieces of the project here on my blog. (Yes, this is the special quilt that I eluded to in last Friday's post.) At first I thought that this might be a difficult quilt to work on because my sister was so sick and we weren't sure what the outcome might be, but the good news is that she is doing much better now that she has started chemotherapy! The lymphoma symptoms are subsiding and she is only having mild side effects from the chemotherapy, so I'm really hoping that this quilt will end up being more of a birthday present instead of a "Linus Blanket".