The Amethyst Quilt

This is Fay. The Amethyst quilt is hers. As you can see, she is really happy.

I don't know Fay. So how did she get this quilt? It's a great story.

I have a knack of knowing what colors work for people. I don't know where it comes from. I also seem to have a knack for knowing when a quilt needs a home. That's kind of what happened here.

I made the all purple quilt because I had never made one. I made it last March. I liked the quilt well enough, but I wasn't really in love with it. I was picking up a quilt from Janet-Lee, my long arm quilter when I told her I had a purple quilt I wasn't in love with, and did she know anybody who would like it.

Her face lit right up. "I have a friend Fay who just loves purple. She has had a rough time lately..."

We agreed that I would give her the quilt, backing and binding I had prepared, and that she would quilt the quilt and finish it and give it to Fay.

I got and email from Janet-Lee last week and she told me that she had been invited to a celebratory birthday party for Fay. That gave her incentive to get the Amethyst quilt quilted and finished. She worked all weekend to get it done.

Janet-Lee finished the story. "Fay was beyond thrilled. As SOON as she saw the purple, she was almost in tears. Since the quilt was all half-square triangles, I quilted it with one of my own patterns, and it turned out gorgeous.

"Fay was an only child and likely not had a lot of outward love extended to her in her life. The quilt made her day in so many ways. Thank you so much for helping me make her birthday memorable."

The Amethyst quilt didn't sing for me, but I am thrilled it sang so beautifully for Fay. Just looking at the photo of Fay at the top of this post tells me that the quilt is with the right person.

Amethyst is a Flimsy!

 

The purple quilt I have decided to call Amethyst, is now a flimsy. It measures 66" wide by79" tall. The HST's are 3" and the border is about 6" wide. The binding will be the same fabric as the border.

I also made the border for the orange Carnelian quilt. You can see both bindings hanging with all the others, above. 

I should be getting the Little Boxes, Harlequin and Kangamangus quilts back from the long arm quilter later this week. I'm looking forward to finishing them up.

Amethyst Gets a Border

 

The purple fabric for the border of the Amethyst quilt arrived and after running it through the washer and dryer I cut it in steps and set it next to the quilt. At first I wasn't so sure.

But when I set it all around the quilt and looked at it from a distance, I was happy. So I am working on getting that sewn to the quilt. The binding will be the same purple, so you won't notice it. I already have the backing fabric for it, so it will go in the closet ready to bring to be quilted.

I also ordered orange fabric for the binding of the Carnelian (orange) quilt. So I will be boringly quilty busy the next couple of days.

Amethyst Almost Flimsy

 

Here is a detail of the purple Amethyst quilt. I thought you might like to see some of the fabrics.

Here is the almost flimsy. I say almost because I plan to add a 6" border of dark purple all around, and the fabric hasn't arrived yet.

I went shopping at Home Goods for potholders (because I had a gift card). I didn't see any potholders I liked, so I got this wreath for my front door instead. When I got to the register the gal said, "I just put those out this morning!" Lucky me!

I'm eager for the weather to warm up enough so I can work outside in the yard, cleaning it up for the new year and getting things looking good. I'm planning a small vegetable garden - green beans, cucumbers, zucchini and some peppers, the usual herbs and lettuces and a sunflower or two. I bought a smallish raised bed planter last year and put chives in it. They are coming back nicely and yesterday I planted some Arugula, Spinach and Leaf lettuces. We'll see how they do.

I love Tony Hillerman's detective novels set in Navajo country in the Southwest. I've read them all, and am in the process of re-reading them. They have a wonderful sense of place and his main protagonist, Joe Leaphorn is thoughtful and conscientious. Also in the books are Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito. After Hillerman died his daughter Anne has taken up the characters and the locale and the stories continue. Anne's books focus on Bernadette Manuelito, also a Navajo cop, who is by now married to Jim Chee. The "legendary lieutenant" (Leaphorn) has now retired, but offers his expertise in this new series of books. 

Some of the original Leaphorn books have been made into a television series called Dark Winds. I am not a fan. That they have deviated from the original storylines somewhat doesn't bother me as much as what the TV series has done to Leaphorn himself. They made him do something the original Leaphorn would NEVER have done, and it really bothers me. I'll watch the series because I'm too far along and I want to see how the TV version resolves itself, but I won't watch another one.