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Mar
19
A delightful surprise
Filed Under Dog Cabin, Patchwork, Theme quilts | 2 Comments
It was February 2003. I had my very first booth at the PVQA show (my home guild). The ink was hardly dry on my first book, Dog Cabin and Others: A Fast Fun Theme-Quilt Project.
Imagine my astonishment when someone I had never met came up, unfolded a darling quilt to show me, and it was from my book!
Toni McAuliffe was in Judy’s Sewing Center a couple of weeks earlier when I had brought Dog Cabin to the shop. Judy was wonderful to me when I was starting out (and still is), and when I brought the books in, she grabbed me and made a store-wide announcement about the arrival of my first publication. It was embarrasing and exhiliarating. Toni bought the book that day, and proceeded to make an exceedingly cute baby quilt using the Dog Cabin road map.
Instead of using one theme fabric for the large squares in the half-log-cabin blocks, she used a variety of fluffy and textural fabrics like flannel and chenille throughout, with minkee on the back. That quilt was so soft and appealing that you just wanted to grab it for a snuggle.
Thank you Toni! It was amazing to see something made so quickly (and unexpectedly) from what had been a notion in my head that wouldn’t go away.
Today Toni reports that the little niece that she made it for just turned four, and still loves her blankie.
Pajaro Valley Quilt Assocation (PVQA)
Judy’s Sewing Center, Scotts Valley, California
Rewind a few more months to the summer of 2002. My friend and fellow PVQA member Lori Hormann agreed to be a volunteer tester for the Dog Cabin instructions. I went over to her place to view the results. Like many quilters, Lori had been saving a stack of theme fabrics, not quite knowing what to do with them. “Dog Cabin” is what you can do with them! Lori’s theme was apples. Up on the wall was the apple-iest quilt you ever saw! I loved the cheerful red-delicious and granny-smith colors, with the occasional splash of orange.
Update on the apple quilt: Lori donated it to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. But not, she says, without “a few murmurings” from her daughter, who had the quilt in her care.
What a nice surprise to see my quilt on your website. I sent the link to my niece’s mommy to check it out. Tana still loves her quilt. It was a really fun quilt to make. Thanks for the pattern Kay. I am thinking of making another one, this time with doggy prints.
Hi Toni! So glad you had fun with the quilt. Dog person that I am, I can’t wait to see the new one!
Kay