Heaven's gain...

My sister died early this morning. She is with Jesus, for which I rejoice even in great sorrow. For more about her, see my other blog. This is the quilt that I made for her and she gave back to me... She had it in her home and painted her dining room wall to set it off. Oh my, I'm missing her already.

 

A gift comes back...

This fall, my sister who is my best friend is taking a giant step. She lost her hubby last year, and is having problems with some tasks. She decided it is time for simplicity, so is moving from her home of 40 plus years to a senior's facility, from a large split-level to just under 600 square feet. Her attitude about it is amazing. 

However, paring down is a big challenge. This week, I spent a couple days helping her clear out a bedroom and some other spaces. Years ago, I made her a wall quilt and she wanted me to take it, "I don't want anyone else to have it." So I brought it home yesterday. I'm looking at it with both joy and a big lump in my throat. Here is a photo. 

It is needle-turn applique with machine quilting and a few beads here and there. She had it on a dark blue wall in her dining room. 

I'm too emotional to write much else except that I'm nearly finished a baby quilt. Also, my sister took me to their town's local quilt shop and I found a fabric called "Sand in my Shoes" by Robert Kaufman that solves some of the perplexities of making Scott's king-size. I bought a hunk and will be un-sewing a hunk of what I've already done and replacing it with this beautiful piece! Yea!
 

Blue Collection

A few years ago, I finally finished this needle-turned, complicated challenge, and gave it to my sister. I'd not seen what she did with it until last weekend. Her dining room feature wall is dark blue, and this quilt really pops on that background. It is called, "Blue Collection" and was designed by Maggie Walker. I bought the block of the month kit online, but cannot remember where (too long ago!) I switched some of the fabrics and added more leaves to the middle tree. It was quilted on my Baby Lock, rather heavily. I'd forgotten how much I liked it until I saw it again on her wall.