Yeah, I can stretch and jump up and down and dance a jig because the quilt and its backing are finished!!! Tomorrow I take it up to Karen Gibbs, quilter extraordinaire, and then all the major work is done in plenty of time.
The mailing has me flummoxed, I confess. How does one mail a 64" X 48" quilt? Tomorrow I'm going to e-mail the contact at McCall's and see if she has any suggestions based on what others do. Part of the problem is that there are parts of the quilt that I really don't want to be crushed because of the packing, but oh well, they'll just have to take that into account when they look at all the quilts.
Yesterday I made the block that is my label as you can see on the left. Mary Ellen found this block in the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine (volume 2 - Winter 2010), and she pointed it out to me because its name is - wait for it - Payton's Star! Isn't that a cool thing?
Now you know that it wasn't named for the Payton family. Anyway, I contacted Sharyn Craig who designed this block, explained what I am involved in, and asked her if I could incorporate this block in one of my challenge quilts. What a nice person she is! She immediately responded and told me that the block is named for her granddaughter who helped her choose the colors for her version. Isn't that perfect? She went on to say that if it would be appropriate, I have her permission to use this block.
As you will see later (after it's quilted), this block would not work for this challenge, but I decided to use it as my label. Notice that the colors and batiks I chose make it possible to give credit to everyone who has worked on this quilt. Because they are such a tight weave, batiks are easy to write on and the ink doesn't spread. I did test both fabrics first, of course, before I actually used them. This time I didn't spend time making my handwriting really special; it is what it is. I just wanted it to be finished!
I don't know if you can see the credits in the lavender bars, but Pat Cunningham's (hand applique) is in the upper left. Two of the others are for Karen Gibbs (quilting), the woman who is going to bind it for me (name yet to come), and Sharyn Craig (label block designer). To me, one of the most important things we quilters can and should do is acknowledge the contribution of others to our work. I have always felt that the quilter and quilt piecer collaborate in creating a finished product (or at least it should be a collaboration). Why would we not thank them and give them credit?
You do all make labels, right?
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