A Quilter's Highest Compliment

In 1999, my dear husband and I were expecting our second baby in October, while my dear friend was expecting her first.  In fact, we were due a day apart!

Well, we welcomed two little bundles into the world that October: our Sarah arrived 17 days early and Ethan three weeks after that.   Apparently, due dates are not an exact science.

Anyway, I was given the highest of compliments and was asked to be Ethan's godmother!  Well, no godson of mine could go without a quilt, so I got to work and made him sailboats set in an Irish chain for his first Christmas.  It was pretty cool--the sails were three-dimensional and had novelty fabrics hidden behind each flap.

Here's what it looked like a few days before I gave it to him...

When I give a quilt, the best I can hope for is that people use it once in a while and feel all the love I stuff in the stitches.  And when I give a quilt to a child, the way their parents view the gift usually has the greatest influence on the recipient.

Fast forward to Christmas 2012--I asked how the quilt was doing since I hadn't seen it for a while.  I knew it was well loved and appreciated, but didn't realize quite how much......

The handsome quilt holder is my dear sweet husband who involved me in quilting nearly twenty years ago!!

Can you see how extremely well loved that quilt is??  Take a minute to click on the picture and get a good look.  You might even need to look twice at some parts to see them once. My friend and her husband were a bit embarrassed to show me what it looked like and after some coaxing, started telling me about the adventures the quilt shared with their family.  Have to say, Ethan made some pretty impressive improvements to that quilt!!  I have a wonderful godson!

Seeing this quilt eleven years later was the greatest compliment I've every received as a quilter--someone loved what I made so much they used it up!