Grace Quilt - Summer/Fall 2004

appx 55” X 60”

This is the quilt that represents the start of my own personal quilt revival. A work colleague of mine experienced a terrible tragedy and something in me wanted so much to do something. I knew without a doubt that I wanted to make her elderly father a quilt. I had not sewn a quilt since the first quilt I had made for myself back in 1992 or so. After that I had sewn a puppet as a gift, but no quilts. SO, knowing what my purpose was, I hauled out the old White metal monster machine my mom had given to me and got to work. Unfortunately, the sewing machine was not in good operating condition, so, an old friend, seeing my struggles with it, kindly purchased a new Brother sewing machine as his contribution to the cause. This is the resulting quilt, the second quilt I ever made. Certainly it has some problems with it  (design balance off, label stitching shows through the front, binding stitching shows through the front) but despite the issues, this quilt was made with much love and that was what mattered most. I used cotton batting and machine-quilted this with words “peace,” “love” and some hearts and flowers and waves. It was my first machine quilting attempt and I think I had some divine help because it turned out great and was enjoyable, too.