Finger on the Shutter

By: Jill Finger

Mar 15 2016

Category: Uncategorized

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In 2014, I took part in an on-line block of the month from Pat Sloan’s quilting website.  I made 12 black and white blocks and put them away to be finished at some point.  Then, knowing that April loves black and white, and also knowing that their wedding quilt had seen much better days, I decided to finish the blocks into a king size quilt as a Christmas present for April and Tim. But, 12 blocks isn’t enough for a king size.  I had just bought the Farm Girl Vintage book by Lori Holt and loved how well written her directions were.  When I drew out the quilt on graph paper, I realized I needed to make 6 more blocks, which went together quickly, and I also needed a pretty fabric for the alternate blocks.  Fabric shopping is always fun and when I found the fern fabric, I knew it would be perfect, as it wasn’t too busy to compete with the pieced blocks and it would add a calming influence on the overall look of the quilt.  Once all the fabrics were cut, the top went together quickly at the Lake George quilt retreat last October.  My friend Mary quilted it in an overall pattern and had it back to me by the beginning of December.  I spent a week of evenings hand stitching over 400 inches of binding down, took it to the laundromat, wrapped it, and it was done!

 Every year, I ask my kids and grandkids if they have any requests for Christmas, but I didn’t ask April and Tim this year.  I wonder what they thought about that, but they were thrilled when they opened the present, complete with 4 matching pillowcases.

I totally forgot to take a picture of the quilt before I wrapped it, so I asked April to take one when she put it on their bed.  It slipped her mind about the picture until yesterday, when she texted me the picture with an apology for not sending it sooner.  Monday was such a dreary day, I had no idea what to do for a blog post until I received the picture.   As far as I’m concerned, she sent it at the perfect time.