Quilt Completed

We'll talk about the completed quilt in a minute, but above are postcards mostly made from the ends of some of my dyed fabrics. I love making postcards - they can be quickly finished but are so pretty.

My fruit quilt is finished - I can't believe that for the first time in a month I won't be stepping over the quilting-in-progress and the waiting-for-the-sewing-machine-repair-to-finish-the-binding quilt. I made this quilt because I really liked the fabric and ordered it. It's so life-like and colorful and reminds me of a farmer's market. Come to think of it, the collection is called Kyle's Marketplace. The quilt is 40" x 52".

There's a story that goes with the quilt. Last spring I took a class with a well-known quilter and the night before the class I looked at the supply list and found that one of the things on the list was a quilt top. There were a lot of other things on the list, too, none of which we used, but that's another story. The only quilt top of any size that I had was this one so I took it. The class and instructor looked at the quilt tops and talked about how to quilt them.

The instructor really didn't like my quilt top. She was polite about it, but it was pretty clear. She even asked me why I wanted to quilt it. You have to understand that her quilts are spectacular, really spectacular, and totally unlike anything basic like this.

For some reason the fact that she didn't like my quilt didn't bother me at all. I really like it. I like the fabric and the arrangement and all that exuberant life-like fruit. I like the patches of green that give a place to rest your eyes from all that busyness. So, the lesson is, if you like your quilt, or your whatever, don't worry about someone else's not liking it.

I took from that class the idea of using fluorescent threads to quilt, and I used them on this quilt. I would never, ever have thought of that. And I got to watch the teacher do free motion quilting, which I'd never seen anyone actually do before, other than me, and that was a great learning experience.

And I learned a lesson for when I teach - don't put things on the supply list that the students won't need. I was stressed when I looked at the list the evening before the class because I didn't have some of the things and it was too late to get them, and it was wasted stress. I learned another lesson, too, for me as a student - don't wait until the night before to look at the list.

Janice and Don, the last picture's for you. Nora loves the Lincoln Logs and enjoys building wagons for the Cinderella and the Prince from the top of her cake. Good gift choice, and I'm sorry we missed the party.