Flowers for the Cure was shown at the IQA 2009 Quilt Festival in Houston as part of the Making Memories special exhibit. In this exhibit, all of the quilts were constructed primarily of donated wedding gown and formal fabric and embellishments. The goal was to raise funds to grant wishes for terminal breast cancer patients.

The quilts could be made of the recycled wedding gowns or any similar fabric. I decided to experiment with Setacolor and painted selections of all the remnants I added. They painted beautifully using a technique I learned from Phil Beaver.

My initial design was a stained glass window from Messiah UMC Church in Springfield, VA, with an adjacent vase of flowers. I wanted the window in perspective. The problem when I enlarged my initial drawing was that when I observed the drawing from the one side, it looked correct, but from the other side, the perspective was all wonky. Ironically, the Washington Post ran an article that week about Master's Paintings with the same problem. Those paintings only looked correct if the viewer was at the observation post of the painter. My solution was to add a second window on the other side, making a bay window.

I transferred my window patterns onto muslin and used that foundation to stabilize the slippery fabrics. The window mullions are made from purchased gold bias binding which I fused in place. I used a narrow zigzag stitch to attach pieces to the muslin to prevent the fabrics from slipping out or raveling. Often I glue-basted the edges to keep them in place for sewing. I replaced the window inserts with the breast cancer pink ribbons.

To make the background of the center window, I fastened a large piece of fabric to wooden canvas stretchers and I painted that in an ombre style. I mixed a small amount of teal paint with water and after each stroke across the fabric, I added another tablespoon of water, giving me the paint dilution.

I used images for flowers either grown by my son and daughter-in-law or from copyright-free images I found on the Net. I enlarged the color images, printed them, and laid a piece of vinyl over them to trace with a large marker. Then, using a light box, I laid sateen fabric (which I stabilized with freezer paper) over the vinyl and transferred the outline. I painted the flowers with Tsukineko Inks and Fabrico Markers. Then I finally appliquéd them by machine using variegated threads and my own raw-edge Broderie Perse method.

I had to eliminate my initial vase (which I loved) because it didn't look strong enough not to tip in the real world. My friend, shop owner Judy Gula (www.ArtisticArtifacts.com), is always encouraging me to bead and the flowers looked much better when I followed her advice.

I was happy to donate this quilt to Making Memories. I've known so many people whose lives have been affected by breast cancer. The windows are a memorial to them and the flowers are a tribute to the researchers and health-care givers who are working hard to fight the disease.