PUTTERING WITH PATCHES

My friend Pat, who lives in North Bend, WA, recently sent me a box of R-W-B scraps that she knew I would love. Pat is responsible for teaching me to make quilts. I always had the urge, but never the opportunity, until I met Pat. That was in the early 1990's when we lived in Issaquah, WA. The above photo was taken of us at the APNQ (Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters) in front of a quilt that neither of us made. It was in August of 2000, and happened to be the day the moving truck was at my house, packing us to leave for Virginia, where we now live. No way was I going to miss that event just because a moving van was parked in front of my house! That was eight years ago, and we have only grown more lovely with age. (Don't ask me to prove that).

So this box has been sitting on the floor of my sewing room for a few months at this point. I didn't want to split it up and put it away, because any minute I knew I would dive into it and make a quilt. Last week I had to empty the box onto the floor because I needed the box to send things to my son that he left while he was here. So now visualize all these scraps in a pile on the floor of my already disastrous sewing room. It is like playing hopscotch getting across the floor on any given day.

I had finished three aprons, and now I needed to work on a quilt. I should be completing one of the many UFOs that are hovering about, but luckily my Dad called with the news that my nephew (and his wife, of course) just had another baby boy. Yea! I get to make a baby quilt! My eyes settled on the pile of scraps on the floor, and I decided to spread them out and take inventory. Imagine finding quite a few strips of red, white and blue! You must know by now that this is my favorite color combination. So here I am with lots of two inch strips. What to do, what to do? I started looking for ideas. One of my best resources is YOU out there in Blogland! I just happen to have a few photos of quilts that you have shared. I saw one made from 4-patches and these colors recently. "Oh yeah! That is perfect for my new nephew", says I. Since I already have the two inch strips, it was an obvious decision to make the 4-patches from two inch strips. So zip, zip, and zip, and I have red and white 4-patches all over the place. The next day I cut up a bunch of 3.5 inch squares of various blues, and began sewing these pieces into strips.

Today I finished sewing the rows together, and voila, a quilt is entering the world. This is what I love about quiltmaking: you take a pile of untamed matter (or scraps, as we like to call them) and create something totally new and wonderful! Borders are in the works, and then the quilt will finish at about 42 inches square.

For your viewing pleasure, I included a little picture of my cute granddaughter from a few years ago on the 4th of July.

In actuality, I have made this design before, and love it. But this coloration was inspired by a fellow blogger. I normally include the quilt makers name when I save a photo, and, for whatever reason, I neglected to do that with this quilt. If you happen to read my blog, and you think I may have seen a similar quilt on your blog, let me know and I will happily mail you one of my own delightful, and original patterns! (Disclaimer: if I get too many claims, you may have to send proof)!

Well, that turned out to be the long version of the history of a small quilt! Now I am off to the border!