Jess

When I dreamed up this project in 2021, I had one rule – I am not going to make quilts of any of my family/friends. I thought if I headed in that direction, somebody would end up upset. Because I only have 12 people to pick. So it was just easier to say ‘NOBODY I KNOW!’ and go from there.

Then the Summer hit and my best friend Jess, reached out to me with the possibility of having to walk a journey that she had walked 6 years before. Breast Cancer.

Fast forward 3 months and as I type this I am currently sat in my parents house, 4,000 miles away from my own family in Tulsa, here to spend some time with Jess before she embarks on her third round of chemo.

The journey started back in 2016 with the first diagnosis. Surgery, chemo, radiotherapy followed and after the treatment, we booked a weekend away for Jess, me and our friend Jenny to go have some fun and enjoy life….dressed at 9′ T-Rexes!

Our weekend away dressed as T-rexes became a beautiful way of spending time together, spreading joy and giving Jess a platform to spread her message of ‘Check your boobs!’ (because when you are dressed as a 9′ T-Rex, people want to know the story behind it!)

The weekend away were a beautiful mix of laughter, girl time, seeing the sights and a dash of alcohol! AKA Embracing life.

This year, with me having moved far from Jenny and Jess in the UK to Oklahoma, we discussed possibly venues for our next T-Rex adventure. Then the diagnosis hit.

Being far from home with a diagnosis like that comes with a lot of emotions, not least guilt (for being so far away) and anxiety. In an effort to channel all of these negative emotions into something positive, I started planning a quilt for Jess. One that she could take along to chemo and keep her warm, remind her how loved she is and I also thought it would give her a laugh, sat there with her own head on a quilt!!

The quilt was like therapy to me. On those days I couldn’t sleep and I would be awake from 3.30am, I would go work on the quilt. On the days that I couldn’t find any words to send to Jess and we simply sent a photo of ourselves crying to each other (because after 33 years of friendship sometimes words are not necessary and the ridiculousness of snapping a photo of ourselves crying and sending it to each other was kind of amusing!)

I would keep our other T-Rex Jenny in the loop by sending her updates of how the quilt was going..

When it was completed, with just days to go, my friend Robin of Happy Tails Quilting quilted T-Rexes into it for me.

I flew with it in my carry on and practically started crying when the lady at the gate said I would have to check-it plane side because the plane was too small. (I am by no means emotionally stable right now!) Luckily I got it back after that short flight and it stayed by my side for the rest of the 10+ hour journey. After being in England a few days, I found a quiet occasion to give the quilt to Jess and I know she likes it, but i’m also very aware that everything seems pretty overwhelming right now.

So, I’m here for the next 10 days with no plans other than to be on stand by if she feels well enough for a visitor.

She hosted a small party of Friday night and dug out these photos of us from 28 years ago when we were 16!!

Little did these young girls know that this was not a friendship of a season, but a life long friendship, with all of the bumps in the road that that brings.

Quilt Stats:

Size 54″ x 72″

Number of pieces: 2,724

Number of colours: 11