A quilt made from aprons!

Good Morning everyone!  My oldest daughter turns 9 on Monday.  Just so hard to believe.  Which means that I learned to sew 10 years ago.  How crazy is that!  I took my first quilting class at QWNW when they were in their old location while I was pregnant with Sonia.  Then I met some amazing women who took me under their wing and taught me all they know.

I love working on your quilts.  Under the bright lights - they can not hide from me.  And on occasion, as I am working on them - they bring up memories and my crazy brain starts to write stories.  This quilt that Joyce brought me below is one of those quilts.  So bear with me, while I try to put this story into words that won't make too many of you gasp or shake your heads.

My neighbor Jeanne is one of those women who helped me learn to quilt and she taught me how to paper piece.  One year as a gift for my Aunt Wes (one of my longarms is named after her) and my Uncle Dan, I made them paper pieced place mats.  The pattern was a paper pieced yellow rose (for the yellow rose of TX) and blue.  My Aunt loved yellow and blue so I thought this would be the perfect gift for them. You see, each time I would visit them, they would always use the same old worn out place mats and I thought this would be the perfect gift for them to use and love.  Each time they sat down to eat, they could admire the place mats that I had made and hopefully think of me.

This is the memory that Joyce brought back to me.  My Aunt and Uncle passed away over the past couple of years and when everything was being cleaned out, they came across the place mats that I had made for them.  Still with the original bow I had tied around them - never used.  My Aunt Wes told me she could never use them because they were too beautiful and they would get stains on them. But oh how I wished she had......  I made that gift out of love for them and wanted them to enjoy it while they were alive - not to be given back unused.

This quilt that Joyce made was made from beautiful aprons that were given as gifts through the years to family members.  As I quilted the quilt, I kept looking for signs of a stain or a burn mark on the aprons to see if they had been used.  But Joyce told me that they were too beautiful and none of them had been used.  I love how she re-purposed them into this beautiful quilt.  The lady who made the aprons has passed away and this quilt will be for her husband.  I hope he uses this quilt, thinks fondly of the woman who made it and his wife who made it too.

You see, I believe as someone who makes handmade gifts that the items should be used and loved. So if you are a recipient of a handmade gift - get it out - enjoy it - use it - love it and think fondly of the person who made it for you.  Time flies by and before we know it that person will no longer be in our lives.  Are you gasping now?  Shaking your head?  We are talented women and we make beautiful quality gifts.  They will stand the test of time -  you will have to trust me on this one.

The embroidery on these aprons is amazing!  Under the bright lights I could really see the love that went into these beautiful aprons.  The aprons were made out of gingham - I bet they were just darling. Joyce did a great job placing them in the quilt and also in the inner pieced border.  Just beautiful.

The design allover is called Circle Swirls and we chose a pale yellow thread and a layer of Dream wool batting.

Joyce, if you are reading this - I am so grateful for you and bringing me your beautiful quilts to work on.  And I am grateful that you brought back a memory of my Aunt and Uncle. Such love went into this quilt and I hope it will be well used.

Have a great day and thank you for reading my crazing musings!  Richla