Little Quilts

Our lives are like quilts - bits and pieces,

joy and sorrow, stitched with love. ~ Unknown

Jeanne is my oldest and dearest friend. We met when we were 15 years old, and have been BFF's ever since. So when I took up quilting, the first project I actually finished was a gift for her. I wanted to do a little mini-quilt for a couple of reasons: I wanted to actually finish a project (I have lots of UFOs - unfinished objects!) But I also needed to mail it to her in Japan, so little was good.

Like me, Jeanne was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. But for the past 18 months, she's been living in the area of Fukui, where she teaches English as a second language. I knew there wasn't a lot of room in the small apartment she shares with her husband and teenaged son. So a mini-quilt fit the bill perfectly. She recently emailed me the photo above, to show me where it hangs. She tells me it greets her every morning. I'm glad!

Here's the back of her quilt, with the label I created (click on any of the quilt photos below for a closer view of the fabrics):

After I made that little quilt, I turned right around and made a second one for my sister. When I made the first mini, I followed the pattern exactly, using different fabrics for each area. When I did my sister's mini-quilt, I wanted a more unified look. The little heart in the middle is an addition I made, and it was my first attempt at appliqué. The whole quilt is 24 inches square:

Finally... several people have asked about the "grand prize" table runner I gave away for Scale Junkie's Summer Blog Party Contest. Here's a photo of the finished piece. No one can say it isn't bright!

Rebecca over at Ready Maid won the runner. But I'm wondering if any of you have heard from her recently? She hasn't posted anything in quite some time, and I haven't heard if my package arrived. I’m not so concerned about the latter, but I'm praying that everything is ok with her.

So, there you have it: a couple of quilt pieces I've created over the past year. I can certainly see that my quilting has come a long way from those beginning attempts, yet somehow they still hold a special place in my heart. I hope that one day, I can look back at the pieces I'm creating today and say that I've come even farther.

Hey, my weight-loss expression applies to quilting, too -- and actually, to every part of our lives, if you think about it:

Progress, not perfection!

Until next time...