Finish For A Friend

Sometimes it becomes necessary to come to a friend's aid; to finish a quilt that a friend is unable to finish. Sharon and I find ourselves in this position with a mutual friend, and we have slowly worked our way through 2 quilts with approximately 5 more to do. Read about the first finish here. We - Sharon and I - have backings ready for two more, with plans to quilt soon.

The current finish is this beautiful Jacob's Ladder quilt, a pattern called James River Blues by Bonnie Blue Quilts  (now Red Crinoline Quilts). Our friend Kay made this at some point in recent years, but illness has prevented her from finishing it.

Just before going on retreat, I loaded it onto the long arm machine to quilt first thing after getting home. It took me longer to get to it than I'd planned, but finally on Thursday afternoon I quilted it. The quilting was simple enough; I had anticipated some difficulty, but nothing was too trying. The term "quilting out" really does apply when one has a quilt top containing a few imperfections with stretching or unevenness. 

Today, I have spent the morning applying the binding. This is a big quilt, 84" square, and quite bulky, but it is done, and it really looks pretty darn good. 

The backing is gorgeous. This was found in Kay's storage, all prepped and ready for this quilt. It has been a dream to work with, yet I do not know the name or the maker of the backing. It is a pretty unknown gem found among Kay's quilting treasures.

This coming week, a big outing is planned. Several of us are going to visit Kay, and we are taking this quilt to give to her. I hope she finds it a beautiful surprise, one that she looks on with pleasure. There sure was a lot of pleasure in finishing it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!