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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

International Friendship Quilt

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I finished hand stitching the binding on my latest quilt this morning.  I have been working on this quilt at our guilds UFO days and finished piecing it at our Retreat this past weekend.   Since I am well ahead on my clients quilts this month I put it on my longarm Sunday night and quilted it yesterday.

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This quilt has a great story to go along with it.  My friend Laila, who lives in Norway, had made four quilts like this and every time she shared pictures of them on her blog I would just drool!  You can visit her quilting blog here to see her quilts and the pattern is from issue#3 of the Vignette magazine.   I was very drawn to the colors and the geometric design of this pattern.  Well Laila, being the sweet person that she is, sends me her leftover fabrics from her quilts so I can make one!!  This are beautiful Japanese fabrics and they even feel just as nice as they look…but they did have a bit of an adventure on there way across the Atlantic.  You see when I got to the post office to pick up Laila’s package and I gave the notice card to the lady at the counter …she give me this look and says “Oh this package, it should be an example of how not to mail packages!”   No, not my special package of beautiful fabric!   She then brings out my package all wrapped in plastic and said that something liquid broke inside.  Hummm,  I don’t think so!   So I opened up the plastic on the counter to find the package and fabric inside is soaking wet and the center frozen solid!!  No broken bottles so not the senders fault.  Somewhere along it’s travels it sat in a puddle for a very long time and the postal worker who found it just stuck it in a bag for the rest of its trip!  So I brought home my frozen soggy bundle with hopes that I was going to be okay after a thaw and soak in warm water the kitchen sink. Once I was able to pull the fabrics apart I threw then in the washing machine with hopes they would survive and still be good.  Only a few pieces bleed and I was able to salvage most of the fabrics!   Whew!  I was so relieved and now tell people that this fabric was dipped in the Fjords of Norway on its way to me.  The image of it sitting in the back of a delivery truck in a puddle of melting snow is not as exciting to imagine!  :)

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I used an extra wide Stonehenge fabric for the backing and the panto is called Bayside.  Since I am keeping this quilt for myself to cuddle with on the couch I used the wool batting that Desley has sent me last year from Australia.  So this truly is an International Friendship quilt!

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And look at how well it goes with my Pine Needles wall hanging in my livingroom!  :)

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12 comments:

  1. That IS quilte the adventure for your fabrics. Glad it all turned out well. I can see why you were drooling over those quilts, and I sure like that panto.

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  2. I love to look at your quilting. This is another stellar quilt.

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  3. As always beautifully done and photographed! I like the pantograph you chose for this one!

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  4. Wow that was some journey your fabrics took-makes it extra special!

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  5. Whoa! How bizarre for it to be all frozen! And very good thing you didn't live in Florida, receiving it during the summer. It would have been a nasty moldy mess. :P It *is* a very nice quilt - I love how the Japanese prints read as solids from the distance. :)

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  6. Your quilt looks so great! Love the panto you used, it makes this quilt look sooo comfy! I'm so glad that the package did arrive! Even if it had such a "wet and cold adventure" on it's way to you :-) Makes it an even more special quilt :-) Hi-hi :-)

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  7. I love how quilts have a story to tell, and this is such a great story! It's really a lovely quilt, so pretty, and the quilting is so complimentary. Thanks for sharing, Kathy!

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  8. Oh my! But a beautiful quilt and I really like that all over quilt motif!

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  9. It is so comfy looking! Another beautiful job. So glad it all worked out in the long run...It would have been heartbreaking if the fabrics were ruined.


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  10. Kathy: Hurrah that you are keeping this quilt! Indeed it truly is an International adventure Quilt :) Love the unstructured yet geometric quilt blocks. Wow!

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  11. Wow that was some adventure the fabric took on its way too you. I'm glad the majority of it survived and you were able to create that beautiful quilt.

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  12. Poor fabrics! So glad you could salvage most of them, seems you choose your friends to coordinate with your living room. ;-)

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