One of the people I visited was my aunt Jeannie. My aunt was more like a sister to me because she was my same age and I spent a lot of time playing Barbie’s with her as I grew up. She was the first person that made me interested in sewing. She would sew her own clothing for her dolls and they looked so awesome I felt the first nudge to pickup a needle and thread. It was only just, that when I started quilting, one of my first completed quilts went to her daughter. Alba is disabled and when just a babe she flew to the states for treatment. I made her a quilt designed by Lynette Jensen from Thimbleberries and took it to her at the hospital.
When I dropped by her house recently, my aunt asked me when I was going to make Alba a new ‘blanket’. I had no clue what she was talking about since I did not recall making her the quilt at all (this is 12 years later). Then my aunt takes me to Alba’s crib and pulls back the sheets to show me the small baby quilt I made so many years ago. It was in tatters. I swear I felt like crying. I never saw something so used and so loved. She had it on the bed for goodness sake!
So obviously I came home with a mission. Time to make Alba a new quilt. At first I wanted to make something simple and fast so I thought I’d just make her a rail fence quilt but that quickly changed to something fast, simple and pretty. So I decided on a pinwheel quilt. Now it’s moved to something simple and pretty. Fast is good too but mostly I want to make her something to grow with her, something big enough to serve her well, and something that is girly.
After looking at ALL my stash of magazines I did find what I was looking for. I found it in American Patchwork and Quilting's Aug 2000 issue.
I have most of the fabric for the piece but I need some Ivory for the background. This gives me the perfect excuse to get to know the local quilt shops and maybe the ones not so local. :)
