When Lynne Meets Julie

I "met" Julie sometime between 2007 and 2008 while we both participated in Tonya Ricucci's online class of free pieced letters. I had never had a quilt quilted, and it was Julie who recommended Chris Ballard to quilt the quilt of mine that is featured in Tonya's book.

Julie and I both have words on the cover of Tonya's book. Mine is GROW...

Julie made the word LEAP.

We became buddies online commenting on each other's work making letters, and she ordered a kitty quilt in August of 2008. I remember that particularly, because I received her request the day after the death of my goddaughter Violette.

We began to communicate directly. Emails flew back and forth with regularity.
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Selvage quilts became popular at that time, and I made a few tote bags with them. Julie asked if I would make one for her in the spring of 2010.

We must have been getting really friendly, because Julie sent me this quilt for my birthday that year. Around the same time, we decided to do a quilt swap. I had made two Rules quilts, one as a mini swap with a friend in Australia, the other with Tonya herself. Julie wanted a Rules quilt too, but she wanted extras - asterisks, butterflies, and the way I used multiple fabrics in each letter.

The result was the quilt, "No Rules For Julie." It has everything she asked for. I held nothing back. I went all out. Originally I had expected the quilt to take me a week, but I had earlier that summer discovered the magic of using the prints in the fabrics to do what Wanda Hansen describes as "the heavy lifting."

Each letter took much longer the new way. I worked on the letters when I was on vacation one week in July (Wimbledon was on TV that week, and it was the year of John Isner's historic three day match.) At the end of five full days of work, I had only made 33 letters. That's six letters A DAY! I worked ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

It took me a full month to complete the top. I even put myself in the quilt - that orange bird, I told Julie (who had said she was not particularly fond of orange) was her "noisy friend from New Hampshire."

The quilt is one of my very best, and hangs proudly in the foyer of Julie's house. Originally planned to hang in her studio, that all changed when her husband Larry first saw the quilt. "He looked, and looked, and looked..." I remember Julie telling me. "He never does that." He was disappointed when she told him the quilt was going to hang in her studio, and changed the location.

When the quilt was finished, I brought it over to show my Mom. She was very quiet for a few minutes as she took it all in. Then, "F**k." [yes, mom said THAT four letter word.]

"F**k"  another pause. She shook her head.

"F**k". Then she sighed and looked up at me. "Is she worth it?"

"Yes, Ma, she is."


And today, even more so. Julie is my very best friend.