"Remembered Promises"

So long ago that I'm embarrassed to admit it, I told a young friend of ours that I would make her a quilt.  After all, I had made a couple of quilts for her older sister Anna so it was her turn.  I had just taken a class for Bethany Reynolds' Stack and Whack quilts.  Esther wanted a pinwheel star quilt so we went shopping together and she picked out some fabric.

I put it away for a while and got busy with other things.  Actually that's an understatement.  You know how it is.

When we moved from St. Louis to Huntsville, Alabama almost 5 years ago and I unpacked my stash, I came across the fabric and realized I hadn't made Esther's quilt yet, so it went on the "To Do" list.  Each year after that it got carried over to the next year's list and last year it made it to the top.  I was so excited to be making this quilt, and I knew that, at this point, it would be a real surprise.  I got it all cut out.

I even got some blocks made.

Then the funniest thing happened.  I broke my arm.  But "by little and by little" last year I worked on it. 

When I got to the point where it needed to be basted, I decided that a special quilt needed a special batt.  When bamboo battings first came out I bought one just to be supportive of my local quilt shop, but because it was so pricey and kind of different, I kept putting it back to use for something special.  I decided the time had come.  What could be more special than this!?!

Basting was next.

For some reason when it came time to quilt it, I got all the purple background quilted first, using a royal blue thread so it would be easier to work with, and left the stars for last.  Big mistake.

I started quilting the stars four or five different times and didn't like what I was doing, so I kept ending up ripping it out.  I finally decided to try something I had never done before but had seen in magazines and really liked -- big stitch quilting with Pearl cotton.

The closer I came to being finished the more excited I got.  I was really regretting having waited so long to make this quilt.

The label for this quilt needed to be personal, so I hand-embroidered it using a snowman because that's one of Esther's favorite things, and I thought long and hard about what to name it.

I mailed the quilt to my dear friend Gloria (you met Gloria in this post) and asked her to deliver it for me.  She enjoyed being in on the surprise and sent me this picture.

Even though I regret waiting as long as I did to finish this project, Esther assures me the timing was perfect, and she is very happy with it.  I just hope she knows how much love went into it.

A Very Purple Finish

I first blogged about the Purple Quilt in this post then updated you in this post, and now I can tell you the rest of the story.  This was one of the most fun quilts I've ever made.  I was making it as a surprise for a dear friend, but also blogging about it and sharing it on FaceBook.  A lot of times I asked for input and followed her recommendations whenever she commented.  I even went so far as to hint for buttons knowing she would volunteer to send me some!  

I used my favorite King Tut thread by Superior Threads to quilt the violets .....

  




















..... leaving a space in the centers so I would have room to add the buttons.  

I didn't like the way that looked on the back, though .....

..... so I ended up putting appliquéd green squares over all those spots, and I actually love the way it looks now.

After quilting the violets with purple and the background with ivory, I decided I didn't like the green cornerstones not having any quilting in them, so I went back and quilted with purple in each one.

It was so much fun putting such a variety of buttons on this quilt.  I love the effect.

Now, my dear friend has a lot of favorite things in addition to purple and buttons, and one of them is tea.  I embroidered a little teapot and cup along the edge on the backing.

Another little special touch was adding a piece of purple hippo fabric onto the back.  (Yes -- she likes hippos, too!)

There you have it.  A special quilt for a special friend, Gloria.  

Here's the front.  (It sort of blends in with my design wall, but hopefully you can see that the quilt ends at the purple binding.)

Here's the back.

And here's the beautiful label my friend Penny made for me to add to the back.

Gloria was truly surprised today when she received the quilt in the mail.  She thought sure she had figured out who I was making it for, but she was wrong.  After she stopped crying she posted this photo on FaceBook of herself wrapped up in it.  I think it's safe to say she's happy with it.

I am linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIP's Be Gone Week 11.

Purple --- Finally!

When I posted in November about my Quilted Village Block of the Month I took a little flack from two friends of mine (Dar and Gloria to be specific) because I had not made any purple houses yet.   I definitely planned on making one eventually so I thought that maybe I'd better do it sooner rather than later.   I mean I really can't handle that kind of pressure!  I pulled out my purples the other day and discovered that this is my entire stash of purples - 

The solid piece on the left is about a yard, and all the rest are just scraps. 


I did manage to get one house made from purples.....

.....but I can see that I need to do some serious purple stash building before long.  

Another UFO Finished!

Back in July I told you in this post about the Black and White and One Other Color Challenge quilt I was working on.  At that time it still needed borders but now it is a finished quilt.  

My friend Angela at Quilted Joy machine quilted it for me and did a beautiful job as always.  










I can't wait to give this one away.  It's for someone special, but I won't tell you about that until much later.  Don't want to ruin the surprise. 

This weekend I made five more pillowcases towards my 50 Pillowcase Goal for St. Louis Children's Hospital.  That makes twenty, so far!

I'm sure my friend Gloria will especially appreciate the hippo fabric.  It's from the Jungle Buddies line by Blank Fabrics .  The last time I blogged about pillowcases she told me I need to make more with hippos on them.

Well, this year is winding down and I haven't completed as many UFO's as I had hoped to.  Hopefully I can get another one or two finished before the holidays!