Lifelong Friend

When we were up in Michigan a few months ago, we scheduled the trip at the very last minute. Like a day before! It isn't the easiest thing to cart 3 babies around while trying to manage their very particular sleeping habits, eating rituals, and tantrums. I wouldn't really call it a "vacation," it was more of a change of scenery. :) We needed a place to stay while in Cadillac, so we once again emailed my friend Betsy and told her we were planning on coming THAT WEEKEND! She responded something like, "I just want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly... You mean in about 2 days?" Yep. Get ready! So, in typical Betsy-style she had everything perfectly ready upon our arrival and let us take over their basement (well, and the rest of the house too, if you know anything about toddlers), and come and go as we pleased, all the while having food ready for us if we should need it. I'm talking good food. Full meals. She even invited my mom and sister over for dinner the last night we were there so they could see the girls one last time. This was a really sweet blessing for me. (Side note, we now have too many people to stay at Mom's house. We are growing way too fast!)

Anyway... Betsy is definitely gifted with hospitality. I especially notice it since I am most definitely not gifted that way! In the last few years, she has hosted us on numerous occasions. We joke that she always has a different house every time we come (sometimes in a different state) and we always have a new baby. I think her kids will be disappointed if we don't have a new baby next time we come! But, more than that, Betsy has been my friend since birth. We were in the womb together, she came out in March, I arrived in October of 1977. We grew up going to the same church, even became pen-pals when my family relocated, and have continued the friendship through marriage, babies, etc... I love Betsy and her family dearly and I wish we lived a whole lot closer. I'm sure I would be at her house every day and forgo raising my kids, so maybe that is not the best idea. Anyway, to show our appreciation I decided to make her a quilt since she kept hinting that I needed to send one up to her! I bet you thought I wouldn't have the time, Bets! And really, I don't. But, I had a lot of left over fabric from Linda's quilt (the blue side of the Kumari Garden line), so I went to work making this little ditty:

The last star quilt I made was 15 years ago. I cringed while writing that, thinking to myself, "Am I really that old?" It was a different kind of star though (I think called the Ohio star, but I can't totally remember) and I wanted to try my hand at these. Not too difficult, but if you look closely, you'll see that none of my stars really have points, sure sign of an amateur. Even so, the effect is still the same, right?

I decided to stipple again. I thought it would be a nice, round contrast to the square looking stars, and it is easy, so double bonus!

The fabric for the back wasn't from the same line, but was totally on sale, and I thought it went well. It wasn't until later that the leaves reminded me of a marajuana leaf (without the points, but I think with the same number of leaves), but Betsy is the last person on earth to smoke pot, so I don't think she'll notice... :)

I also made a TON of binding for Linda's quilt(my favorite part of quilting - isn't that weird?! But, I love it!), and it already coordinated so well with the fabric, I decided to use it for this quilt too. I love it.

And, with practice, I am getting a little better at mitering my corners.

I *love* this quilt. It is hard to say good-bye, but I know it is going to a better place where little kids won't get their slimy fingers all over it. :) Betsy, I did realize that I got so excited about sending this out, that I forgot to clip all of the thread from the quilting. When you get it, you'll probably want to clip any long threads you see. Might as well make you do something. :)