Icebox Quilts

I was recently contacted by a friend who came across an unfinished quilt her mother had started, but was not able to complete before she passed away. My friend asked if I knew of somewhere to donate this. I told her I am actively involved in the work of Firehouse Quilts of Colorado, a 501(c)(3) organization, and I would be happy to complete the quilt and donate it to them. (See  Firehouse Quilts  for more on their amazing work.) She dropped off a quilt with 6 tumbling blocks hand sewn to background squares. Her mom had started to hand quilt a few inches of the center, but I could see the background fabric was not as large as the quilt top and the batting just barely fit. I was able to find some similar fabric to extend the back and load this 20+-year-old project onto my longarm to add an allowver swirly quilting pattern. The result was beautiful, and I could feel the love her mother poured into this quilt. I knew I couldn't just give it away.   My friend saw the pict...

I realized it has been a hot minute since I posted anything on my blog. I haven't slowed down quilting (or traveling), just blogging. As my little quilt business starts to pick up, I am getting more and more requests from scammers for quilts. At first the inquiry would get me excited, and I would engage with the conversation. Then it would always end when they wanted Zelle or CashApp information. I still try to be polite in case I ever get a "real" request from a potential customer, but I have figured out how to more quickly get to the point and let them know I am not giving out my financial information. This quilt did NOT involve a scammer. It was a request from a friend who ultimately could not purchase the final product. So I listed it for sale on Etsy and also posted a picture on my personal social media. An old college friend contacted me, and it was sold immediately.  Not my usual color palette, and way beyond anything I would have come up with. But it got a lot of ...