Hannah's Quilt and Hannah's Story
Sewing and quilting provides a wide range of styles and techniques that cater to
every personality type. In addition there are well-documented studies of the
benefits for well-being and mental health. Working with colour, the brain
exercise of working out how big to cut your borders to meeting like-minded
individuals are just some of them. One of our customers found the creativity of
sewing and quilting as a wonderful outlet after recovering from cancer
treatment.
Hannah Bradley-Cohen was only in her mid 20s when she was diagnosed with
an aggressive form of brain cancer and given a life expectancy of 18 months. It
would be a completely normal reaction to find this devastating diagnosis a difficult one to
face. However, Hannah's partner Pete Cohen was determined to find people who had
survived and what they had done and to help find treatments that may increase
the odds. Hannah and Pete created "Team Hannah".
However, after ten years of being cancer free
Hannah's cancer returned. Sadly, Hannah passed away on the 19th May
2023. It was Covid that was the final blow after under-taking treatment in Germany when her symptoms returned. Hannah faced the challenge of her diagnosis and treatment with huge
courage and optimism. Her emails, whatsapp messages and calls began with "Happy
Beautiful Day". What an upifting way to start your conversation! I found her to
also have a great sense of humour, she did not suffer fools gladly and with an
honesty that made me smile.
I will never forget Hannah for so many reasons.
My
husband Pete and I watched her funeral. I wondered how Hannah's Pete would
cope without her and without the focus of a battle that needed to be won.
Hannah's husband Petee
contacted me a few months afterwards with a request. Hannah had pieced a quilt
from the Michael Jordan basketball jerseys that he had collected. Would I be able to finish the
quilt for him. I would like to say that I didn't hesitate, but I did for a nano second. It wasn't
because I didn't want to do it but the question was - could I do it? I had never
stitched through basketball jerseys and I had the sense it would not only be a
technical challenge but had huge emotional value to Pete and therefore pressure.
So I said "Yes, of
course. Send me the quilt."
I documented the quilting in a series of videos. You can see the video on this link.
In terms of the process, I
stabilised each of the jerseys and using complementary or contrasting threads in
red, white and blue I worked my way down the quilt. For each jersey I wanted to
consider the design of the jersey, multipoint around any numbers or motifs as I
knew they could not handle being stitched but I would outline them to stabilise
them. I then went back and worked each block individually. Some free motion quilting was added in the narrow sections around the quilt - loops and stars basically. The majority of it was done with the Pro-Stitcher computerised quilting.
There was also the question of how to get "Happy Beautiful Day" stitched into the quilt. So I digitised it in Pro-Stitcher Designer and stitched it out in a jersey in the centre of the top line so that Pete would have the reminder of her wonderfully positive endorsement.
When I sent the quilt to Pete he unboxed it on a live Instagram post! He loved the quilt and that was everything to me.
There were many twists and turns in her journey, which have been documented in an incredible film made by Pete, after her passing. These were videos they created on a bench outside where they lived. I love these videos as they give a sense of their relationship and Hannah's laugh. Precious memories.
You can follow this link to watch the film or a trailer. It has won 11 film awards and Best Pictures at the Cannes Film Festival. An incredible tribute to a life cut tragically short.
Pete was interviewed on Davina McCall's podcast "Begin Again". It's a lovely watch with insights on grief and grieving but it isn't a sad watch. I would recommend it to anyone who has watched film.
Pete took the quilt along and it was a beautiful moment when Davina saw Hannah's Quilt.
Have you ever created memory quilt for someone?
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