Farhana's quilt has been a real adventure. All the ingredients that go into beautiful quilts are contained in this one: attention to detail, sharing of ideas to pick out the right cloth, friendship, love and trust. The process was begun in our correspondence about my making a quilt for her around Christmas 1997.

Then it was in February 1998 that I went to Amsterdam with Thierry so I could meet with Farhana to talk about details. We had a great weekend there and spending time with Farhana was really fun. We picked out the cloth together in a store that was like the original Alibaba's cave...full of beautiful, unusual fabrics. I went home from that weekend feeling full of ideas and anxious to start on this new quilt. Farhana did tell me about a cloth turtle she had had as a little girl and how she would poke holes through the seams to stash secret messages into the thing. I asked if she wanted secret passages and it was agreed. So this quilt is the first one with pockets in it. They are camouflaged but an interesting detail when one knows what to look for. The design is simple: a field of deep red with gold stars all over it. At the top of the quilt there is one star with strips of cloth that look like they are beaming out to the sides. There are three sides of borders consisting of gold saw-toothed triangles and many of these are composed. This is an economic way of making the most of the fabric I had cut and of ensuring that I have enough to make my final dimensions.

The batting, a detail that no one will ever notice, is 100% wool and this for me is a great innovation. The wool was thin and completely smashed down when I took it out of the bag, but a few hours in the bathroom over the shower rod in the humidity made it puff up to be three centimetres thick. A real miracle! Then working with the stuff to quilt between the two layers was incredibly pliable and soft. A whole different feel from the synthetic. I'd like to use it all the time, but this all depends on the availability, of course. I can imagine its being a treasure in Farhana's life, and I would hope because it drew us into a very special friendship, one that dared to trust each other with the giving and the receiving of a precious gift.