The Very Hungry Caterpillar

When my colleague told me a couple of weeks ago that her son's first birthday party theme was going to be "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," I thought, "Great, I'll whip up a small quilt for a unique gift!" A good friend sent me the caterpillar fabric which I received on Tuesday.  I spent Wednesday evening researching other quilts made from the same panel for construction ideas. They were pretty much the same, easy round-robin type borders around the central panel. Thursday and Friday evenings were devoted to construction, using some of my own stash fabric. Saturday I had to find backing, pin and machine-quilt it. I finished that about 11 pm figuring I'd put the binding on Sunday morning and off I would go to the birthday boy's party! I think that would have been a personal best for me, completing a fairly good-sized kid's quilt in a matter of days.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling sick, so I didn't get to the party and only finished the quilt yesterday. I delivered it this morning, a week late, but this time his Mom was in sick in bed, so I didn't stick around.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Caterpillar's New Home

Sweet William

Sweet William

Civil War era reproduction quilts make me feel warm and comfy all over. I feel a special affinity for this style but can't pick anything specific about the quilts besides their looking old. However, because my house is over 100 years old, these quilts have an instant home.

Sweet William, about 22 inches square, was made from a kit of fabrics, some of which I swapped out. The pattern is by Carol Hopkins in her Civil War Legacies series. The stars and triangle border were hand pieced during the summers at the beach. It is hand-quilted.

Another California Quilt

The last year has brought a lot of heartache to my family, but every once in a while I come across something that helps me recall good memories. This small quilt is one of them.

Back in 1994 my older daughter visited San Diego for a wedding of a college friend. She returned to Connecticut with fire in her eyes and pronounced that she was going to move to California, and she gave herself a 2-year goal to get there. She did it in one year - 1995 Thanksgiving holiday found the two of us on a 4-day cross-country trek that took us to Ohio, Kansas, Texas, the Grand Canyon (no way I was going to miss that!) and into California with some special music Kim had picked out special for the occasion.

Kim moved in with her college roommate, Lisa. I stayed with Lisa's parents, Cindy and Ray. This was a wall quilt I had made in a workshop early in my quilting career and I sent it as a thank you gift, because the colors of this quilt EXACTLY matched my hosts' decor. It just belonged.

Kim and Lisa were like sisters, and last year we lost Lisa unexpectedly. Recently, during my annual Thanksgiving visit to Kim and  her family, we had lunch with Cindy. I asked her to send me a couple of pictures of this quilt so I could document it here for posterity. I don't know if it still lives on a wall in her home, but Cindy did a great job, and included Sadie, Lisa's dog, for good measure.

I will never forget that momentous trip, and Sadie here will always remind me how welcoming Lisa's family was, and continue to be, and how much Lisa loved this dog.

Sadie with quilt

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