Quilt Delivery

Susan holding the finished quilts

When my friend, Martha, died last July, one of her many in process projects were quilts for the kids--ages 1 1/2, 3 and 5--who lived next door to her. Last August, Susan Ainsworth Smith took the parts and finished the quilts. Susan gave me the quilts last week. Seeing the sparkles and the purples in many of the fabrics as well as the cross X design of the quilts sure reminded me of Martha. I appreciate the time that Susan spent getting these projects to the finish line!

I made labels for each quilt and hand stitched the labels to the back of the quilt. I tried to make the labels as Martha would have made them. I wrote each label by hand. Martha would have stitched each one using the embroidery font in her machine!

Labels inked and ready to stitch to the quilts

I coordinated a time with the kids' mom, Karri, to make the delivery. Karri, greeted me at the door. She told me that when their youngest was born, Martha came over and watched the older kids. She talked about how Martha would watch over their house and send a text when Rob, the dad, arrived home after working all night.

While Karri was speaking, it was like Martha was right in the room telling me the story again! Martha loved her newest neighbors! Karri shared that she had a photo of Martha proudly snuggling the youngest family member when she arrived home from the hospital. Karri also said that their oldest asked about Martha and missed her.

Playing " I Spy"

That conversation was the perfect segue to distributing the quilts. I started with the oldest recipient.  He recognized the letters on the label being his name. He didn't quite know what to make of a "blanket" or why it was his. I brought the quilts folded with the back showing so each kid could have their own reveal. He was a little unsure about why it needed to be unfolded so I helped!  He was a good sport looking over the blocks while I was telling him that he could find all sorts of items in the fabrics. I thought he would located the Coke bottle fabric; but, he was drawn to an apple fabric first. Then he had his dad clear off the coffee table where he carefully placed it "just so." Next he pulled out a puzzle and started building his puzzle on top of the quilt!

Using the quilt as a base for a puzzle

Martha made a lot of kid quilts using this cross pattern and another that was made of strips stitched on a muslin. She was adamant that kid quilts contained a variety of fabrics from bright to dull so that kids could find all sorts of items while practicing learning their shapes, colors and even counting!
Susan did an awesome job of making more blocks and putting the existing blocks together.  The two oldest kids ran their fingers along the quilting lines. They really liked the swirl pattern that Susan had quilted into each of the quilts.

I showed the middle child the block of her quilt that was a print of metallic butterflies. Martha would have approved of the purple border that Susan added to the blocks on this quilt. Purple was one Martha's favorite colors.

Testing the warmth factor

It wasn't long before this recipient was trying out the warming qualities of her blanket. Martha would have smiled and giggled seeing her blanket put to "use" less than five minutes after the initial reveal!

For the youngest, she sat on her blanket. She was "shy," but, I happened to catch her checking out her blocks while her brother was putting together his puzzle.

The youngest sitting on her quilt.

Martha loved her neighbors. She loved being their honorary grandma. She loved having a place close to her dream house where she could visit. She would have loved gifting these quilts.

Speaking of Martha's dream house, her house sold a day after it was on the market. The new owner will be moving in soon. Relatives of the new owner were painting, carpeting and replacing other flooring the day I delivered the quilts. I hope it will become the next owner's dream house too!

My heartfelt thanks go to Susan Ainsworth Smith and the ladies of Mt. Hood Quilt Guild who helped with this project.