Life's Patchwork of Crafts, Quilts and Adventures: A Stash of Fabric, A Boy's Weekend and Phone a Friend

My mother started a tradition of making a quilt out of bandanas before each of us went off to college. My oldest brother's was red and blue, my sister's had pastel colors and my middle brother's was brown and yellow (I think I'm right on that). Anyway, when it came time for my quilt we either couldn't find bandanas in colors I liked or I said I'd rather have fabric. My mom and I went to the fabric store, purchased two coordinating fabrics in blue and cream, a material for the backing, batting and headed home. For some reason I actually ended up sewing the quilt rather than my mom (not sure why). To hold the quilt together the squares were tied off at the corners and centers with yarn. 33 years later I still have the quilt though it does have a few tears in places.

As the quilt began to tear I thought it would be a good idea to make a new quilt. I purchased some fabric to coordinate with some I already had, found a Better Homes & Gardens pattern online and cut out part of the pattern. That's where things stalled (for a year or so). After I returned from vacation this past December with the beautiful quilt for our Benner Pups I got to thinking about the fabric I had tucked away and plans to make a new quilt. I told my friend Karen about my idea to make a quilt (I think she thought I was a bit crazy as she didn't know how much I could sew, knew about quilting, etc.).

An opportunity presented itself where I would have time to myself to set out on this quilting adventure, a boy's weekend in Vegas. Perfect! With the remainder of the pattern cut out I got down to business. Bab's (the name of my sewing machine at the time, another story yet to come on why she's been replaced) was a great sewing partner, sewing straight and even. In no time things were starting to come together. That's where the "phone a friend comes in".

Since I hadn't taken on a quilt of this magnitude before (several different fabrics, sizes, etc.) it was helpful to have an experienced quilter in my back pocket, Karen. She was there at a moments notice. Karen reminded me to square off the blocks, gave pointers here and there and cheered me on. I finished up the top around midnight.

So, here it is, my first attempt at a quilt since high school. The longarming was done by a woman with a local business in Vancouver, Washington (Gail - highly recommend working with her!). She now does the longarming for all my quilts.