Ingrid Whitcher

I love making baby quilts and have had several opportunities this past year. This is the most recent quilt.

I had the birds left over from another project and loved the idea of a simple but stunning design. I am also not trying to compete with a nursery theme.

I learned several years ago that domestic machine quilters should not use a white on white fabric for the backing – the white printing is a plastic that will stick to the quilting surface. What I did not know is that this type of fabric can also pose problems for the top. I have had this piece of fabric in my stash for many years and thought it would look lovely with the birds as a whole-cloth, but what I did not know is that the plastic gets very brittle and is then a pain to work with. I had to change to aurifil cotton thread instead of my normal rayon because every time my needle hit one of the “plastic” stars the thread would break. It is broke a lot with the cotton thread but not every time and not if I went really slow. It also left weird black marks when the needle hit and “broke” the plastic. Bummer – because I still have another few yards in my stash.

Oh well….lesson learned. The quilt is still one of my favorites and I am sure the new owner will not be critiquing it as she spits up on it!

We spent part of the day outside enjoying the warm weather. I can not believe how warm it is this year – 75 today. So thankful for the time outside, and getting a little sun on my face. Looking forward to all the new adventures this year holds for our family.

Just a quick idea for patching up a split seam.

Even when we are careful, seams do not always get sewn together as they should. Washing the quilts in preparation to take them to Alabama, gave me the chance to check them all before giving them away. After drying this sweet quilt. I noticed that one of the seams had split open. Not to worry – I appliquéd a heart over the area and did a satin stitch to secure it down. I actually like it maybe even more with the “accidental” heart on it.

I am so thankful that all the quilts are safely up in Alabama. It is hard to put into words what we saw on our quick trip up to the Shoal Creek Valley in Alabama. We had made contact with Brother Melvin up in Alabama who had been in contact with the people in this area since the day of the tornadoes. We took some pictures, but they could not show the sadness of the area landscape. Our family went through Hurricane Ivan here on the Gulf Coast and I can say that even after 6+ months, this area is still worse than we saw at home. My heart was/and still is heavy with their loss. But in the midst, homes are being rebuilt, new memories formed and friendship made that would never had been except for this storm.

We were able to make contact with several families and hand deliver the quilts to them. It was wonderful seeing them look through the quilts and find one that was perfect for them. My favorite was a 10 year old boy, who after looking through one box of quilts did not see one that truly interested him. My husband went and got the other box and when I lifted the lid, he saw the quilt he wanted. The quilt had fabric that matched a quilt he had lost in the tornadoes. He was thrilled – and did not even want to finish looking through the second box.

The stories were miraculous, truly. A family of 18, grandparents, parents and children, were all in one house went the storm hit. The house was completely destroyed and all 18 people were thrown from the house – all survived. They moved into their new house just weeks before Christmas. Another family had all huddled in one small enclosed area of a basement, after the storm only that area of the house remained.

How wonderful it was to see the provision of the Lord and to be able to talk with these families. It was amazing to me that each of the families that we were able to give quilts to, all had a link to family quilts before the storms – many were lost.

We were able to hand-out 14 of the quilts and we left the rest to be given out as Brother Melvin and others meet the needs of people in this community.

The weather for the trip was wet and rainy – except for the hours that we were handing out the quilts. It started raining as we said good-bye to the last young man and thanked our host Brother Melvin.

The last of the quilts – 37 in total. AMAZING!!!! We are driving up on Monday to deliver the quilts. Hopefully, I will be able to share a few stories of those who will receive these works of love.

The center of this bright quilt was made a few years ago while visiting my mom. Three generations worked on this piece.

The next four quilts were all quilted on my new long arm. I am steadily improving. Still having some tension issues, but very much enjoying doodling.

This top and backing were donated by Sandy.

This quilt was also donated by Sandy, I got to do the quilting.

This top was donated by Bernice. I had a blast quilting this – no pattern, just feathers, hearts and swirls all mixed together.

This top was donated by Sheree.