Mystery Quilt Forgotten

 

Leanika by Dena for FreeSpirit  Westminster          Lovebirds



My Inspiration

I am captivated by this fabric.  From the moment I saw it on the shelf at Happiness is Quilting I had to make something from it.  The little birds and water color brights bring a huge smile to my face and heart.

I showed it to my husband...he bought the bolt!  What a sweet man.

I had signed up to do a mystery quilt with the local guild.  I decided to use the Lovebirds.  Now I had to find something to complement them.

With the help of Gilbert (the sweet sweet man I married) and the ladies at Happiness I found these.  They are so totally not part of my crayon box.  I was embarking on something new and exciting and just a little scary.  I mean, what in the world can I do with this beautiful girly fabric in a house filled with boys?!  Crackled denim, limey moss green dots, vibrant orange with what looks like a topographical map doodled on it, hot pink feathers, and crackled brown.  My inner girly girl, the one that remains hidden because she doesn't have a clue how to coexist with a bunch of fellas, was ecstatic!

The final fabric choice.... a border stripe...big and bold and one of the elements of the Leanika collection.  I loved the shapes and colors and the watercolor feel.  Truth is, I didn't realize until months later that is was a stripe.  Isn't it delicious?



Leanika by Dena for FreeSpirit   Westminster        Maison

The tragedy
As is often the case, Gilbert continued to help me with the project, even though he was assigned a job on the other side of the country and was seldom home, he spent the time he was home helping me get ready for the big day.  We even cashed in a few of his frequent flier miles to purchase a night in a hotel close to the event so that we could have a mini vacation together.  It was oh so wonderful.  The first time we had ever left the boys on their own for a night.  (My boys are mostly grown, which is actually a little bit not, but they are good fellows and did fine.)

That night I started feeling funny.  I couldn't breath and was winded easily.  Looking back, I probably should have ditched the Mystery Quilt day and gone home, but I was the one organizing things.  As the day wore on I got sicker.  By the end of the day I could hardly talk.  Between the illness and the organizing I didn't get much work done on my quilt.  I finished four blocks, enough to see the larger unit in the quilt, and that was it.  For the next month I was sick in bed with pneumonia.  Over the next year the quilt lay, neatly stored in it's box, stacked on the UFO shelf, waiting for me to remember it.

Mystery Quilt 2011

Now I'm getting ready for another mystery quilt event.  I've got my fabrics selected and half cut.  I have a couple of weeks before I need to have my homework done.  It shouldn't be a problem, but the lovebirds are calling to me.  "Tweet, tweet, how can you start a new mystery quilt when we are still in our box? Tweet, tweet, squawk!"  So I've picked it back up and hope to finish it before February 14th.  It could happen.

Today the plan is to add the borders.  Say a prayer....I'm going to fussy cut that beautiful stripe.  I'll let you know how it goes.