My guild has gotten involved with a great program to provide quilts for cancer patients getting chemo. We've adopted a hospital and are dropping off quilts regularly. So far, the guidelines for the quilts are that they should be around 40" x 60", a size to go around the patients' shoulders to keep them warm while sitting up in bed and that they should have flannel backs since chemo skin can be so sensitive. Other than that, it's up to the quiltmaker to choose colors and fabrics. We want each one to be different and individual. While we don't want going in for treatment to be a shopping experience, we do want the patients to feel like they can prefer one quilt over another, give them some control in a situation when they're feeling low and don't feel like they have much.
At our last meeting, a request was put in that we avoid dark colors. The member putting in the request said that she'd been a chronic pain patient and that darks are a real downer in that situation. It got me wondering. Do tastes change with serious illness? Does someone who has always loved dark ruby and eggplant colors find them depressing when sick? Does someone who thinks white thread on an all-black whole cloth is artistic and cool looking change her mind when she's facing cancer?
Obviously I'm guessing the answer is no, but I thought I'd open out the discussion to people who may have more experience.
(Some years ago I found an old wool quilt at a garage sale made entirely of black, brown, and grey men's suiting. It's tied with the tiniest amount of red wool yarn. I think the effect is striking and have been wanting to recreate the color scheme ever since. Would that be inappropriate for my guild's project?)
--Lia