"THE" Quilt

I sit here on my couch, where I spent the first 4 1/2 months of 2008, currently covered and comforted by Jacob's

clothing. This is not some freakish expression of grief....it is more like a beautiful piece of memorabilia. About a year ago, I thought about what to do with Jacob's clothing.....I thought I could donate them to the NICU to use, but then I thought, "Um, no.".....I thought I could just keep them and maybe another baby would wear them, but then I would never wish to have such a tiny baby that would fit them!.....I thought I could just put them with all his other memorabilia, but then I realized how much room it would take up seeing he had a ton of clothes!...but then I remembered my mother's pillow made from her father's shirt....and I thought maybe someone with real talent (and guts!) would take his outfits and make a quilt! I packed all of Jacob's teeny tiny outfits into a paper box and dropped them at a dear friend's house. She had offered her amazing quilting talents to make Jacob's clothing into a quilt for us to enjoy and use. Let's just say, "easier said than done!" Just think about making the first cut!!!!....I can't imagine! She researched how to put a backing on the clothing so they would quilt properly, asked me what kinds of things I wanted, and thought about the pattern....it is not easy to get good size fabric to quilt from teeny tiny outfits! This was a high stress quilt! She apologized for how long it took but really I was fine with whatever she had to do and in no rush. I got the call last week to schedule a time to stop in and pick it up. So Monday evening, Jason, the boys and I, headed over. Let me tell you, it is beautiful....precious....comforting.....just perfect. The boys picked their favorite square and they pointed out how they remembered him in certain ones. Joshua's favorite piece is the tag on the back that says, "In loving memory of Jacob Ryan Fahmer, January 14, 2008 ~ May 31, 2008." I can't pick a favorite part.....everything about it is my favorite!.....I just look at the squares and think about my sweet baby boy in each one. I just love that his clothes now cover me and are usable and comfortable.

It is made up of 56 center 5 inch squares made from his clothing...she even included some of the

tags that say "preemie" on them and the cute footies and pockets and zippers and snaps. Surrounding the squares is a thinner boarder with a print of cute tiny hand and foot prints....this is also the fabric for the back. Then (get this!) the outside boarder is made of all his black and white fabrics I had bought him that he loved to stare at. All together, it is so perfect. It is so Jacob. It is so sweet. I just love it....I can't explain it. I just love it.

Mrs. De, thank you so much for putting so much love and care into something that means so much to our family. Words cannot express what this quilt means to us and we thank you for making it happen. Love always, The Fahmer's