I made this quilt with a bunch of colleagues for a pitch. The pitch was for a drug that helps women with metastatic breast cancer. We didn’t win the pitch, and I am really bummed as I lost a dear friend to this awful disease and many of my colleagues have as well. 

We wanted to show how passionate we were about the category so I brought white cotton and fabric markets to work for folks to draw their story or why this matter to them. Some drew family members who were fearful of developing metastatic breast cancer, others shared their point of view about our contribution to the brand (which I can’t name). Then I also did some embroidered squares to tell some stories that need to be told.

I embroidered this for my colleague and fellow managing partner, Ben. Clean, simple and quite poignant. 

This one is in memory of Lisa Bonchek Adams, an amazing woman and friend of my colleague Barbara. Lisa left us in March, the weekend before our pitch and left behind her husband and three children. She was in her 40’s. It is so hard to understand and I admire her so. The poem on block is something that she believed, in fact lived, and tweeted every day. She remains an inspiration. You can find links to Lisa’s social legacy from her Wikipedia listing. Her words are worth reading. 

And this is my block, for Pam. We met online more than a decade ago while swapping fabrics. Like Jen, she started as my quilting friend, then became my friend and tomatoey was family. She had breast cancer and thought she won that battle,but like so any women, metastatic breast cancer was an unwelcome and deadly surprise. One of these days I will do a post just on Pam, but she was an amazing woman and I miss her.     

We didn’t win the pitch but the clients did love the quilt and hung it in their team room. It was truly a group effort and it was fun to work on the binding, with another friend and colleague Claire, in the office. 

This disease sucks. I wish I could do more. And while we didn’t win the pitch, (despite the fact I have mentioned it like five times, I am not still bitter) I wish the team that did win all the best as the more patients that find our clients product the better. 

I had wanted to post about this but just didn’t, and thus I haven’t written. But I am back.