quilts

Cats, quilts, etc.

A few quick updates...

Bessie Jane arrived today. In an odd twist of fate, given the [likely] maker's maiden name -- Spurlock -- she was probably a distant relative of Jacob's. Yeah, Jacob, my quilty co-conspirator. Now, admittedly, when I bid on this quilt top on ebay, I felt confident in its quality, but I can tell you that when I opened the box today, I was delighted at its condition and quality.

A powerless time

After six nights in the dark, my power returned last night. I am immensely grateful that my house escaped the widespread devastation that can be found in my community. I've posted my photos of the devastation and its aftermath to Flickr; I did not seek out damage for photography purposes, but it was everywhere I went. it took a few days to rescue Tenzing from the vet's, thanks to this mess in front of their building:

Sunfish

Date: 
18 April 2011 to 28 May 2011
Recipient: 
Beth and Ian's second child
Pattern: 
Pictures in the Hallway (4-patch + quarter-circles)
Level of completion: 
Completed and given away

Go on, exult with me ... I have a place to play! Sunfish is my first quilt started after getting the sewing room ready enough to go that I could actually tackle projects in it. Jacob was right -- I needed a space to call my own. If Jeff could have a computer room, I could have a sewing room.

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Consult!

I've set up a page at http://domesticat.net/quilts/consult for some of the questions I get over and over when I'm working on quilts for someone. I wanted to demystify a bit of the terminology and process of making one. I've told people that for te most part it's more painstaking than difficult. You don't have to be a technical master, but you do have to be accurate in your cutting and sewing.

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We have a winner!

The correct answer to "How much did UAB bill Blue Cross Blue Shield for Jeff's stay?" was $557,501.66, which means our winner is Susanna Leberman, assistant archivist at the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library. Her guess: $550,013. Well played!

Susanna works on the same floor of HMCPL as I do, and has followed a lot of my quilts from beginning to completion. Since she works in the library archives, she has a strong interest in historical preservation, and says that she didn't get a quilt when she got married ten years ago.

Thank you, all of you, for helping turn $557,501.66 from a jaw-dropping, heartbreaking number into something that has good connotations for me, for Susanna, and for Jeff's family. I could TOTALLY be convinced to do this again when the HealthSouth tally arrives. :)

Now with care labels, white paint

I've needed care labels for some time, so I decided to do something that would work for both new and old quilts alike. I've ordered a yard of quilt-weight cotton to be printed at spoonflower.com with this repeat:

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