A Quilt is a Hug you can Keep

When someone you thought you had lost shows up, you are in for a rollercoaster of emotions. The years somehow fall away when you connect. I recently was contacted by a young woman who I knew as a baby and little girl. She reached out like a magic wand and splashed stars and sparkles with her wise words and glorious smile. We are all delighted and relieved to have her in our lives once again. She had a birthday last week. Over the years when we had lost touch, her birthday was a whistful time of hoping she was happy and felt loved. Now we could celebrate with her. The best gift I can give is a quilt I've made. I sewed up a most Cheerful quilt out of summer batiks, nine different colors. The pattern is slices of citrus fruits in oranges, yellows, and greens, with a blue gradient background. Because the batiks are tightly woven I did raw edge machine applique. For the back of the quilt, the part that touches you, I used three different shades of minky in green and blue. I used a technique that makes the backing fold over to the front and slef-bind.

My other recent project for a family I've known many years, was a handfasting sash for a wedding. The groom wanted a combination of Viking runes for his part, and hebrew letters and a yoga hamsa symbol for the bride. The center was a tree of life symbol. He wanted the sash made from black handkerchief weight linen. The symbols were embroidered in gold metallic thread, red and purple embroidery thread, and the tree of life silver metallic. I used black fusible interfacing to stabilize the soft fabric. It turned out magical and sweet. 55 inches long tapered at the ends, 2 3/4 inches wide. May their union be full of love and thrive like a garden well tended.