Quilty day

    Exactly a year ago we discovered our round robin quilts coming from Germany were lost in transit.  It was a devastating blow and I still deeply mourn their loss.  Three of the eight quilt tops were delivered and mine was one of them.  Dodie and Barb also received theirs.
    Because of my period of mourning and the chaos of moving to a new house I didn't want to start quilting mine until things settled down.  There is a lot of white in it and I didn't want the quilting process to get it dirty during the moving process.
     Now that the holiday sewing is about complete and I can see January on the horizon I asked Friend Jan (whose quilt was one that was lost) to help me pin it.  Once a week Jan quilts with some ladies in a church basement.  The six of them sit around a floor frame and chat while quilting the old way.  Slow. These women are all in their 80's and Jan says she is learning a lot from them.
     One of the conveniences of my former job was having big library tables I could push together to baste my quilts.  Now I don't have those and certainly don't get on my knees on the floor anymore (not with two artificial knees.) Jan said we could use the church tables and today was the day. 

 Here's my quilt, all layered and waiting for pinning. I love it and everyone says it's absolutely me. I made the center square, the four borders were made by our friends in Germany. Getting my nose in there to pin it I saw the incredible detail in fabric choice and impeccable workmanship that went into the quilt.  It will be an honor to quilt it and remember the women who worked this top.

 We spilled the pins in piles that looked like ants on a lollipop and began.

 That third table width made the stretch a little long but Jan was used to the reach from pinning so many church quilts so she took over that section. 

 Then we layered her quilt and set to work pinning.  In about an hour an a half from arriving at the church we had both quilts pinned.  Not a bad morning's work!


On the way home we took a short detour.  Jan wanted to show me these "barn" quilts.  These quilts live on a former dairy farm and when the owners sold the cows the wife had the time to take a stained glass class and she made these!

These are all stained glass!  Aren't they gorgeous!  Imagine your stash being glass!