The Da Da Sisterhood quilt

Some of my quilts get done at breakneck speed. While life falls apart around me - no food to eat, dishes piling up, laundry overflowing - a quilt gets designed, cut out, sewn together, snipped and washed in a marathon session. These aren't good for the house, or my hands or my back or my loved ones. But boy can I crank one out when I'm on a roll.

This quilt was in the making for 16 months, a new snail paced record. It's a gift for our friends Dennis and Julie, our fellow Romanian language learners in our congregation. Julie and I are lagging behind our families, founding members of the Da Da Sisterhood. In the middle of all the material gathering, Julie's mom died. That made this quilt much more sentimental and it was more pressure to get it right. Added to that, Julie was trying to track down some little clothes from her boys that had been worn by their cousins.

so cute, and so small

Finally it's done, finished up in this last blast of summer. I have never sewn with so many checks and plaids, not a favorite of mine because it's hard to get them straight when you're putting four squares of them together. But the plaids add such a cute touch. I was so nervous to cut up that itty bitty boys flannel shirt - what pressure. I had to tell myself, OK you do this all the time, you cut up old clothes and make quilts, just do it. But it was so small, any goof would make it unusable. I got one square, front and back, that was all. But it's my favorite, because the boys who wore that little shirt have grown up to be two really wonderful young men who we adore. Here is your quilt Dennis and Julie, a very Happy Belated Anniversary to you all.

so cute and so big