Everyone tells me I should take a day off from blogging from time to time…or maybe just a post. I typically don’t. I know many of you have come to depend on me to be here…so I do everything I can to try to be.
This evening I don’t have a lot to blog about so I thought about just taking the evening post off but I didn’t. Instead, I’m going to tell you about my day.
I started out early sewing. I am bound and determined to move my Bitcoin quilt along. You might remember yesterday I said that I wanted to stitch at least one row on every day with the hope of getting it done. This morning I woke and said nope. I’m stitching in full force.
When I last left you it was like this…
I sewed on it early Monday morning and again this morning.
I have everything that I’ve got sewn onto it. This is how big it is. I want it bigger so I sewed strips together to make more columns. Right now it’s about 86″ wide. I’d like at least 10″ wider.
While I’m here and talking about the quilt, I had a blog reader ask about my color selection. I’ve been using everything except what I would call lights. There are medium prints in the quilt. There are dark prints. There are zero of what I would classify as light prints.
It is all reproduction prints. It needs a good ironing.
Too quick my sewing session was over and it was time for me to start childcare.
Right now we are in this odd limbo as in school has started but isn’t in full swing. It’s super hard to plan. Some kids haven’t started school yet…school is only half days for the first three days for the others…and then I have a family who has potentially had a covid exposure. So, Saturday a family in town that is part of the fire department family called and asked if I had room for their little boy today and tomorrow. I said yes. Then Sunday night I got a call from one of my other families telling me about the possible covid exposure…so today rather than having my regular kids, I only had the little boy from the fire department family…so I called Kalissa and asked if the boys could come and play. I hated for the little boy to be here by himself.
Carver and the boy will both be starting school on Thursday as preschool doesn’t start until then. They had a great time. While they were playing, I made cookies. I planned to have them help but they weren’t really interested. Here are the cookies…
If you want to give the cookies a try, HERE is the link to the blog post with the recipe.
The mom came to pick up her son later and she came in. Kalissa, she, and I chatted. She was telling how she came to move to our town. Her family moved to her grandma’s house here in town. That’s when it hit me. It was her grandma’s box of calico that I bought years ago. I had been to the grandma’s garage sale and I bought a big ream of paper box full of brown 80’s calico for $1.
I had wanted to make Bonnie Hunter’s Pfeffernusse quilt. I thought the box of calico would give me a great variety of fabric to make the quilt.
(Read more about the quilt HERE)
I was right. It did!!
This is the quilt I made with it the box of calico plus some of my own fabrics.
I loved the colors on this.
(Read more about the quilt HERE)
You can find the pattern in the book String Fling. HERE is a link to the book.
Well, on a goofy whim, I walked over to the cabinet that the quilt was being housed in, pulled it out, and gifted the quilt to her.
I explained the whole story to her. I told her I was at the garage sale. I told her I bought a box of her grandma’s brown fabric for $1 and I made the quilt with it. I wanted her to have it.
It made my heart so happy as she looked at some of the brown prints and said, “I remember my grandma made us a doll dress from this fabric…and I remember my mom had a dress in that fabric.”
I am just thrilled that I gifted the quilt to her. I think the brown fabric is exactly where it should be…back with her granddaughter.
With that, the kids left. I had no kids so I quickly went and sewed for just over an hour before the bus came and dropped a couple of kiddos off. It was GREAT to have an extra hour to sew today…I loved it.
The kiddos are watching a movie and I’m writing this post. It’s been a great day so far. I’m confident it will continue on to be a good one.
But I’m going to let you go…I have snacks to make as I can hear the movie is finishing up but before I go, Kalissa FINALLY posted the recipe for her Fish Taco with Mango sauce. Oh, my word. Remember I told you she dropped some off for me one day. Here I was taste testing them in the driveway.
So good. HERE is a link to the recipe. Give them a try for sure!!!
I’ll catch you back here tomorrow. I am hoping you all are having a great day too!!
What a thoughtful person you are to give that quilt to the granddaughter. I’m sure her gma is smiling upon you.
What a sweet and generous heart you have. I bet “Grandma” has a huge smile for what you did for her granddaughter. :)
You are very much needed – so we can all read about your quilts. How wonderfully kind it was of you to give her that heirloom you created. God Bless your kind generous heart.
PS just got back from Tx to NY
Heading back to Tx next week to get the girls into school. Then one more trailer hopefully should be it. Sometimes I try to post but your site won’t let me. Don’t know if you are having problems or if anyone else is either.
I love the quilt you are making, the colors are beautiful!
I also like the story of the garage sale and the quilt. It was a chance meeting and it was meant to be with her and her family again.
wow I am so glad you decided to go ahead and do a blog post with that heartwarming tale. It was such a blessing to all of us. Thank you
I gave away a quilt on the spur of the moment to someone. It was so fun to see their reaction and how they talked about to everyone that came into their house. It didn’t have the story behind it that yours does so I can’t imagine how excited they are. You are awesome. Stay safe.
I had to chuckle a little…as soon as you posted that you made the connection with the fabric and the granddaughter, I knew that you would be giving her the quilt! That’s the kind of person you are…thoughtful and generous! I love the story…thank you.
How wonderful of you to have gifted that quilt to her. Fate surely had a hand in her being at your house today and you putting two and two together and then you generously gifted this prescious quilt to the granddaughter of the owner of the fabric you bought! Her grandma must be smiling down on both of you today! I really love that quilt, I have been wanting to make it and seeing it again I love even more, so I better get busy collecting more browns!
Doesn’t giving a quilt away give you the best feeling. I’m glad you wrote a post today!
That’s so cool that you gave that quilt to the granddaughter! You know she will treasure it! It really means something to her to have something with memories attached. Your post made my day!
Love tonight’s post, especially the story about the quilt. Hearing her talk about the fabrics she recognized is a sure sign that she will love and cherish it.
Lovely story and how nice the granddaughter has a new treasure. Your Bitcoin is looking great but my word, so many seams to match!
Weren’t you so tickled when she recognized the fabrics?? What a special moment for you both! I also have the Bitcoin pattern. I am hesitant because of all those seams to match. Has that been a chore for you? Do you just try to match them and don’t sweat it when they don’t? That’s probably what I would do. My other thought is to alternate sizes with each row…..say use 2 1/2 every other row and 2” on the others. Thus, the seams intentionally will not match. Do you think that would work and be attractive??
How very special to hear her recognize fabrics in that particular quilt!! Of course you gave it to her!! What stories she can tell her family and friends now, just by pointing to a spot on the quilt.
As I read your blog I was hoping you gave her the brown quilt. How wonderful that she recognized some of the fabrics. You have such a generous heart, Jo. Thank you for sharing this story with us.
Love your generosity to give the beautiful quilt to the granddaughter! The fabric made full circle! Bless you, Jo for being a great example of sharing your talents.
What a heartwarming story! And what a special connection for this mother with those before her. With the memories she has of the fabrics on the quilt, this is something that she will treasure for the rest of her life. She will always remember your kindness!
I love the feeling of making a quilt and giving it to some one.
When you mentioned her Grandma’s yard sale I knew you were going to give her a lovely quilt. There’s so much joy in doing and giving. Prayingvfor you all during this ongoing covid stuff.
Thank you for the joy you shared in gifting that quilt to the granddaughter, and in sharing the story with us. It was meant to be.
That is such a beautiful quilt, and it’s so kind and generous of you to give it to the granddaughter. She must have been so touched. Just yesterday, I finished stitching the binding on a quilt that I made the top about 1991. It had been a UFO for a long time – and would have stayed that way if my friend hadn’t agreed to quilt it for me on her long arm. Felt great to turn a 30 year old UFO into a nice quilt to put on the bed.
What a generous lady you are, Jo. Such a lovely spontaneous gesture to gift the Pfeffernuse quilt , she must have been amazed to hear the story of how you acquired the fabrics from her Grandma’s estate sale. So many lovely memories in the quilt for her to revisit. Glad you had such a lovely day.
Boy, you sure know how to bless the socks off someone! Such a wonderful thing to do, Jo. I know she is so thankful to have that quilt as a memory.
Thanks for listing the taco recipe. Sounds yummy!
Love and prayers
What a wonderful gift! It is so rewarding when the recipient appreciates it!
Isn’t it the most wonderful feeling to pull out a quilt you’ve made when you find just the right recipient? The same thing happened to me last year. I made a quilt to use up a ridiculous pile of blue and green scraps. I didn’t have anyone in particular in mind. I just wanted to make use of what I had on hand. One of my son’s friends sheepishly asked me if I would make her a quilt some day. Well, some day was THAT DAY. I grabbed it from my cabinet and said “how do you like this one?” She took it from me and just cried. She is a dear girl who hasn’t had a lot of love in her life. Now she wraps herself in the love I infused in the quilt when I made it. Makes me SO HAPPY! Blessings to you for your generous spirit!
What a lovely quilt story. And what a lovely day you had.
What a lovely surprise for that lady!! And to have her recognize some of the fabric too!!
A beautiful day that turned out to be for both of you. You have a huge, huge heart. Loved all the quilts from the 2011 blog post too–can only say, that every picture of quilts you show us, I love them all.
Love the story of the brown fabric and yes it is where it needed to be! God puts us and even the brown fabrics where they should be in life. That lady will absolutely cherish that quilt for the rest of her life. Keep spreading the love Jo! I am going to check out that cookie recipe now. LOL!