Sometimes, things just come together.
For example, when Diane Kennedy applied at Sassy Hair & Nails in Newton Falls.
"She just fit right in. She was a godsend," said owner Lori Scheidly Thursday at the shop.
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Diane Kennedy shows the quilt she made to help her team raise funds at the Lordstown / Newton Falls Relay For Life. Much of the fabric was donated in honor or in memory of someone, and there are 896 submitted names to be written on the back.
Scheidly also said it was a sad day when Kennedy left. She went on disability after having surgery and practically constant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.
"I miss her very much," Scheidly said.
Kennedy said going on disability has also been a blessing - chemo is hard on her hands, feet and hips, all needed when standing all day at her station. But she said everyone who works there, five women who also lead a Relay For Life team, still gets together.
"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me, is coming to work here," Kennedy said, followed by a collective "awww" from her friends and former coworkers.
For the past few years, Kennedy's quilts have provided the theme for the Relay team. Last year, it was "Hope Grows," so everything revolved around flowers. The year before featured butterflies and was called "Wings of Hope."
This year, Kennedy found herself praying for a theme. One day, she woke with the following running through her head: "Third time's a charm, Diane."
The Internet unavailable that day, she went to her many quilting books and asked for a little more help. "Show me."
She took one down and opened right to it - a charm quilt. And she had chills.
A true charm quilt is made with no two pieces of fabric the same. Sometimes there will be two - a quilter's challenge to those who use it to find the duplicates. Kennedy put a call out for fabric and names to be included in the quilt in honor or in memory of someone touched by cancer.
She now has a quilt with more than 1,000 pieces (counting the black border), about a third of them donated and the rest from her "stash." There are a couple of repeats due to one enthusiastic donor, but in the big picture, it all fits. The fabrics are so varied, there was no plan to what order they would be in, but again, it just goes.
Kennedy admitted this one's been "a bugger," but she went with it because "it was the one He led me to."
Her friend Debbie Zambino cut a majority of the pieces by hand. A speedy rotary cutter won't work when every piece is curved.
"She said, 'I don't sew, but I want to help you somehow,'" Kennedy said.
Her mother, Esther Sammon, spent countless hours pinning pieces, getting them ready for Kennedy's sewing machine. She also helped with snipping - curved pieces need several small cuts in the seam allowance so the finished product will lay flat.
Professional long-arm quilter Linda Bailey of Newton Falls donated her services once the quilt top was complete - each apple core shape is outlined, and there is a tiny flower design at every intersection.
"Traditionally a charm quilt is five-by-five squares, and every fabric is different," Bailey said.
She had an idea in mind for the design, but when she realized Kennedy had gone to all the trouble to do all that curved piecing, she chose a simple, traditional design.
Bailey can give an approximate value for her services, but she said it doesn't matter.
"It was a total joy to do," Bailey said Saturday. "This is her labor of love."
Kennedy and her mom put the binding on the quilt. But it's not yet finished. There are 896 submitted names to be written in the spaces on the cream-colored back.
"I gave her about five names, all my husband's family," said Valerie Richmond, in for a hairdo on Thursday.
Kennedy also can pick out the fabrics with different meanings. Tweety Bird for Scheidly's mother. A plain white one for the baker's apron. Fireworks for the local man who set them off. Material from a son's shirt. Snoopy. A tractor for a farmer. Corn for another. A boot. Mickey Mouse for the Disney lover.
The quilt was named "Charming People" by Kennedy's sister, because all those people are charming to somebody, she said.
The quilt winner will also receive a book. It tells not only Diane's story, written from the perspective of her daughter, but includes the story of the quilt and the people who helped Kennedy, including sentiments about the submitted names.
"The fact that she's keeping a book - that's way too much record-keeping for me," Bailey said. "Quilting is sort of a solace, a comfort measure for her."
A friend is printing the spiral-bound book. Her daughter-in-law, a graphic designer, is putting it together. There will be 50 printed.
"I intended to do one," Kennedy said. "I guess it's all just falling together."
Kennedy, 57, said her original diagnosis and surgery three years ago feels like water under the bridge. Her ovary with the largest-sized tumor was about the size of a football and was adhered her abdominal wall, stomach and colon. In order to get it out in one piece, her organs were removed and put back. Her spleen was reconstructed.
"It's hard for me to believe what they did to my body," she said.
Her main symptom was a feeling of fullness, something that can easily be attributed to other problems a woman may have.
Kennedy said she'll probably always be on chemo. They've tried to take her off, but within three months the cancer returns. With the current treatment, it's a five-hour session every five weeks and the admonition to stay away from heat or she'll blister.
But this queen of chemo who made the queen of the scrap quilts keeps on going.
"When you're writing Christmas cards, you wonder, 'will this be my last Christmas card?'" she said.
And her children and grandchildren are motivation. "You look at them and say 'that's what I do chemo for' - for family. You want them to remember you."
She also plans to be at Relay this week despite a treatment on Monday.
"I might not be there with bells on, but I'll be there," she said.