The Plan for Helen's Quilt

Helen and I agreed to do a personal swap sometime late last year. Her work is completely different from mine. I love her whimsical take on colors, fabrics, quilting... everything! I got to know Helen because we are both Swap Mamas for the Doll Quilt Swap. We Mamas exchange ideas and thoughts very often during the swap, and it was apparent that Helen and I share the same sense of humor.

Since I knew we would be swapping, I paid particular attention to Helen's comments about my work. She had indicated she liked my free pieced letters, so I knew right away I would make her a quilt with letters.Letters by themselves are great, but I wanted something more than just a sampler or a name. That meant I had to look for a quote. Since free pieced letters can be complex to piece, they are hard to make really small. The standard "swap" quilt size is 24" square. I had to find a quote that had less than about 40 letters, or the quilt would be much too big for the average wall space.I love quotes, and I collect them, so I wasn't really worried. I keep my favorites in a box, and I have a book of quotes by women I like a lot.
There, on page 96, I found it:
It was perfect.