A Link In The Chain

This quilt top came to me through a circuitous route, along with other tops and tote bags full of fabric. They came from a dear friend and fellow church member for our group to tie and donate to North American Lutheran Church Disaster Response; should the need arise, quilts will be ready. This particular top languished in the closet. It is a spectacular work of scrap usage and meticulous workmanship. Since it was foundation pieced onto muslin I realized it might be a bit thick to tie by hand and decided to load it onto Sundance for a quick panto. As soon as Christmas and all the festivities were winding down, the last few days, it was time. I loaded up his scrappy beauty and set to work.

As is always the case, when working on a quilt with a back story, this quilter began to wonder about the woman who pieced this and hoped that she would smile on its intended new purpose. I asked my friend to tell me what she knew about the top's piecer. She answered: "the quilt maker is the mother of one of my Mom's classmates. The mother was a wonderful seamstress and quilter. As she developed dementia they allowed her to cut and piece as long as she was able. Eventually, they (her family) had to move her from her home and clean out her quilt room. When they did, they kept or donated the fabric, tops and pieces that they found." She went on to say, "they (she and her daughter) both did excellent work; they always washed their fabric and ironed it neatly before cutting and sewing. Their scraps were more nicely stored than most fabric in stores!" That was obvious to me as the quilter; this top was as straight and even as any quilt I had ever seen, nothing shoddy or haphazard about this one. I found a lovely purple backing and quilted it with a soft lilac-colored thread. I hope and pray that it will bring comfort and love to the recipient.

As my friend stated: "many scraps and many hands will get this where it needs to be". 

Let's suffice it to say that I don't keep my scraps stored more nicely than in fabric stores!

But, keep them I do (albeit crammed into plastic bins)! Here's a heap of 2.5" strips. Just the thing to build some houses. I want to thank CityMouseQuilter for leading me, through her blog post, to Lori of Humble Quilts' (click for link) blog and the request for house blocks to be donated to the survivors of the California Wildfires last month. Grabbing my scraps and following the pattern on her website I quickly stitched up a few houses for donation. I mailed them yesterday. Seriously, these three houses only took me a few hours (it took me as long to decide on the colors and fabric placement as it did to stitch them up). If you have the time, and a handful of scraps, there's nothing to lose; join me as another link in the chain!

When disaster strikes, quilters rev up their machines! It's like I told my friend who donated the quilt top above: "I feel like a link in a chain of love here. The experience of bonding through needle and thread to an eventual , and unknown, quilt recipient is a reverent one for me". I pray for peace and comfort through each and every stitch. 

Life is Good!