September 2018 - 6th and Final Month Clue
Here's the final installment of the Modern Mystery QAL!,
I'm so amazed and excited over how great everyone's rows are looking. Please bring in your rows/ completed top/ completed QAL quilt to the next meeting where we will have a final reveal.
As an incentive, for each row you bring in, you will get a chance for exciting prizes! A completed quilt top gets 5 extra chances and if you are able to complete your QAL quilt (I've seen some of you doing a quilt as you go thing, you smarties!) you get 5 extra chances on top of that - so there's a potential for 6 tickets (6 rows) +5 tickets (completed top) +5 tickets (completed quilt). As always, continue to post on Instagram and our members Facebook page! So get busy!!!!
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Sarah dropped her keys into the stoneware dish by the front door. She placed her grandmother's quilt on the nearby table and sunk down into an armchair. She felt so tired, not only from the walk from the bus stop in the cold evening air, but from going into her grandmother's house. She felt guilty for all the times she had brushed off her grandmother's efforts to teach her to quilt. She remembered the look on her grandmother's face when she hissed "stop Grandma, I'm trying to watch this show!" when the scissors and the scraps of fabric came out. Sarah felt her face blush when she remembered how her grandmother turned and slowly walked away, her shoulders hunched. Sarah now wished she had come over to the kitchen table and sat nearby while her grandmother cut strips and squares out of her grandfather's old dress shirts. Once that quilt was completed, it remained on her grandmother's bed until she passed away. "It may not be the fanciest quilt, but it's like getting hugs from your Grandpa" she would say.
Suddenly, Sarah stood up and walked to the table. She grabbed the quilt and returned to the chair. She started to unfold the quilt and she suddenly smelled her grandmother's scent, the smell of laundry soap and lavender. She pulled the quilt tightly around her and as she did so, a small envelope fell to the floor from within the folds of the quilt. She picked the envelope up and opened it. A small folded sheet of paper was inside, along with a photograph of Sarah and Daniel standing with their grandmother outside in the sunshine. Sarah opened the sheet of paper and started to read:
"Dear Sarah:
I know this was your favorite quilt, so I hoped you would come and get it someday. I used pieces of many of the things I've sewed over the years – the kitchen curtains, the baby dresses I made you when you were small, even some scraps from your grandfather's work shirts. All these things were a big part of my life and now they are a part of yours as well. I was never able to teach you to sew, but I hope that you will find a way to pass on the parts of your life to your family someday.
And the most important thing is: ________________________
Love, Grandma"
Sarah blinked back tears. She pulled the quilt tighter around her, feeling her grandmother's hug.
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So, what is the most important thing that Sarah's grandmother wrote? Is it one word? A phrase? You get to choose how that part of the story ends. As the last part of your "row" you will create this "important thing" – either by piecing the word or phrase, or by appliqué. The twist is. . . . this row will be placed vertically as opposed to horizontally, so that your quilt won't be super long and narrow. Your phrase or word can be done horizontally or vertically as you see fit. I've included links below to help you determine what you will write and how to put it together.
Posting this great link again – our resident author Tonya Ricucci is listed on here
Here's our resident author Tonya Ricucci’s blog
Like appliqué? Here's a link for that
Scroll halfway down the page of this link (where it says "get lettering pattern" and they will send you a great set of appliqué alphabet letters in different sizes!
Here's more inspiration of a quilt with letters
More sayings in this most excellent quilt
WOW! Check out about halfway down the page at an alphabet from a quilt book from 1922!! (click and it gets bigger)
Love this example of a "message quilt" (scroll down a bit)
One more small "message" for inspiration
An inspiring baby quilt with multi-sized lettering
Submitted by Patti Auten