In loving memory of Caroline

I am one of those people that strongly believes things happen for a reason.

The day that I was making the backing for the magnolia quilt, I cut  the material wrong.  I do stink at math but I have NEVER EVER made such a mistake that I had to stop what I was doing and go out and buy material just to recover!!

I was so upset but knew I had no choice but to head out to Hancock Fabrics (I QUIT JoAnn's but that is another story) and hopefully find just the right material for the backing on the magnolia quilt.

When I arrived at the store, I saw the big sign...batiks 50% off!!  Big sigh of relief because batik is expensive.  Of course, I could not leave with JUST the backing, I had to have some other pieces because after all - it was half off and they had some pretty solid colored pieces that I *needed*!!

I really like Hancock, for one they are a Mississippi company but mostly, the people there sew and it is nice to be able to talk to the person that is cutting your fabric and bounce ideas off of them. (unlike the OTHER place).  As the girl cut the fabric, we talked about the magnolia quilt - I had some of the fabric scraps with me and she helped with the color selection.

After I chose the fabric(s), got them cut, I headed to the register.  

Before I made it to the front, a nice lady stopped me, she had overheard me talking while my fabric was being cut.  She had an idea for quilt and wanted to know if I could make it for her.  It was going to be a very special quilt for her daughter.  

It was going to be in loving memory of Caroline and the quilt would be made of all of the scarves Caroline had worn.  

Like any *girl*, Caroline was a fashionista.   She loved her scarves and would pick one out each morning and patiently wait for it to be ironed to a crisp triangle and once tied around her neck, off she'd go, dressed and ready to greet the day.  Caroline shared the same birthday with her *skin big sister* and this quilt was to be a big surprise, presented to her on their birthday in September. 

This took place before my beach trip so when I returned, Lisa came over, brought the scarves and we talked about how to best put the quilt together to bring out the scarves.  My initial idea was to sew them together as a whole, then cut them apart but once I started looking at it, I decided to cut them apart and randomly sew them together.  The goal was to have them as triangles since that is how they looked when Caroline wore them.

I took the month of June off while Lexis was here.  When I returned home from Mississippi, I jumped into the project with both feet.

It did not take long to get them sewn together.  The next step was to trim them up.  The scarves were 20 inch in size.  To get them all down to the same size, I used my big 16 1/2 inch acrylic square to trim them.

 All pinned together and ready to sew

 What is a project without a nosy 4 legged helper

Up on the design wall and ready to sew together.  Since Lisa's office was so close, I had the unusual opportunity to have the person I was making the quilt for come over and have a look see before the sewing began.  I love the diamond shapes embedded within the quilt top.

 Even Chewie came up for a visit to see what was going on.  BeeBee just wanted to play in the bag.  

Tallulah came up for a visit too!!

As I was rolling the quilt onto the frame, I looked up and saw the ears. 

 Watcha doing  - can I help... 

Ohhhh what is that....it was a piece of thread...How did she see that little speck???

On the frame and ready to go.

Once quilted, it was ready for the binding.  I took the cut off pieces and randomly sewed them together for the binding.  It came out really nice.

 All finished!!   Notice who is checking it out.

BOO!! 

 I had some scraps left over so I also made a lap quilt - I could not bear to waste those beautiful scarves!!  Again - loved the embedded diamond shapes.

 The backing for the quilt was a blanket that Caroline and her skin sister snuggled under together.  I had not done anything like that before but it came out really well!!  
Caroline had a t-shirt that said - I'm the Little Sister.  I took it apart right in the middle and put the shirt onthe back so that when her skin sister cuddled under it, Caroline would be giving her a hug!!

You know who just had to check it out!!

Both quilts have been delivered and this is one quilt that I hope to keep up with.  Usually I make them, love them, then send them on their way but this one is very special.  It is going to - I hope - fill a void in a little girl's heart left by the unexpected loss of her best fur friend.  The presentation of it is still a couple of weeks away.

Now back to why things happen for a reason.

Lisa had been trying to get to Hancock but her schedule kept changing and at the last minute (if I remember correctly), she had time to run by there on the way to her next appointment.

Lisa also had a white boxer named Heidi - my boxer Tallulah is also white.  She also believes things happen for a reason.

Had I not unexpectedly cut the backing wrong on the quilt and had Lisa's schedule not had an unexpected lull, we would have never been in that store at the exact same time.  I'm glad it worked out like it did!!