As promised yesterday, by me, the quilt nerd………

I have another claim to fame!

I gave a quilt top to the Alex Anderson!

But first I must bore you with some history…….

Many many years ago I was at a Sew-In with the Lakeview Quilters Guild and some of the ladies were talking about a “block swap”.  I did not know what that was so I nosed my way in and saw these blocks from a quilt I had seen at a retreat a few months prior.  The quilt was called “Timeless Treasure” and the block is “Triple 4-Patch”.  Well I opened my big mouth and said “oh that would be fun to do!”  I received a phone call a few days later, one of the ladies wanted to drop out of the swap and was asking if I would take her place.  I said SURE!  I had no-clue what I was getting into at the time.  Each month we made 21 identical blocks, 20 to swap and 1 for a quilt for our guild auction.  Back then I traveled, A LOT, for my job and I would spend all my at home time trying to get my blocks done for the swap.  Near the end of the swap they asked us to make the guild blocks ahead so we could make the guild quilt prior to the auction.

Then my friend Patty and I assembled the top for the guild too!  If you are going to volunteer for something – do it with Patty – she is fun and takes her commitments very serious!

Fast Forward – my friend Holly (of HollyDee Quilts fame!) saw my quilt and wanted to make one too!  So we found a group to do another swap – she was traveling A LOT back then, but was stuck in WI for a period of time and she ended up making most of our blocks for this swap!  So, if you want to be in a swap, Holly is a good one to be with!

Fast Forward some more……  I worked for Sew Contempo in Clearlake, TX and we were hosting Alex Anderson back when she was still “Simply Quilts”.  I had brought many quilts and quilt tops to decorate the courtyard where the event was being held.  As Alex was leaving the morning event to go have lunch and relax until the evening event she saw my Triple 4-Patch quilt top and commented that it was one of her favorite quilts, but she would never have one because the best way to make that quilt was a block swap and she did not “do” block swaps.  Well my brain went into overload upon hearing her words, I decided I was going to give her my quilt top – and I did!  I had mentioned this to several of my co-workers and some quilter friends that were there for the event and no one told me that was a bad idea and I knew it was a good idea.  So after the evening event while Alex was signing books and we were cleaning up I gathered my top (and my friends) and I presented her with the quilt top – needless to say she was SHOCKED!  She did try to say NO!, but I did not listen.   I explained it was no problem that I would just start another swap to get another quilt for me – she said she doesn’t do swaps – I said she did not need to be in the swap – this quilt was hers, but if she wanted to make one set of 20 blocks then I bet I could fill the swap right there and then – and I pretty much did!

A couple of weeks later a box arrived in the mail – it contained a sweet care package from Alex!

I must share the note inside the thank you card!

Dear Denise,

I am still Blown away by your generosity – I will never lust over a quilt again.  I am torn over whether or not it should be mine, but too late now because IT IS! 🙂  It is in the living room on display on an antique quilt rack it is PERFECT!  Thank you from the Bottom of my heart – Alex

A quick google search says that Simply Quilts ran from 1995 to 2006, so this probably all happened in 2006, because the show had just been cancelled when she visited Clearlake.  My sources, aka Linda Wells, has done some research and she thinks the event probably happened in spring 2004 or even spring 2005.  I know we were swapping the blocks in September 2005 when Hurricane Rita threatened our area because Marsha Henshaw moved all of our blocks to safer ground!

And – YES I do have a finished quilt for ME!  I have had the blocks since probably 2007 or 2008, then at some point I put my quilt top together and it marinated (which is what happens when you are a long arm quilter and don’t have time to quilt your own quilts!)  I had quilted a really fabulous quilt for my friend Susie McCracken and when I sent it with her I did not send an invoice – instead I sent her a note a few days after she received her quilt back and asked if instead of writing me a check she would quilt a quilt for me – I explained it was my Triple 4-Patch and that I wanted Baptist Fan, which meant she could use her Circle Lord Templates and she JUMPED on that!

Yes – I am a quilt NERD!  And I am proud of it!

Denise