Marie

Tricia-

20 Fabrics from 20 Different People:

Thanks for the great new pattern. It was just in time. My sister turned 40 last May and I wanted to make her a quilt. To make a long story short, we moved in the midst of all this, so I just finished the quilt.

I had every member of our family (her husband and kids, our parents, siblings and their spouses, nieces and nephews) choose a fat quarter. That gave me fourteen. Then one that I picked for my sister, add three more from some quilting friends. Finally in August, she got word that her baby girl was ready for adoption, so that was my 20th. The youngest members of the family had a little help choosing fabrics, and we narrowed things down for my dad and brother by letting them pick from my mom's stash.

Cutting and piecing was a breeze. Laying it all out was fun too. I decided to have the long skinny pieces run vertically down the quilt because I liked the visual effect. I used flannel for the back and no batting. I quilted it myself, practicing my free-motion quilting skills (this is the first big quilt I've done free motion quilting on). Then the label, which is huge since it had to identify which fabric was selected by which family member. They are all in chronological order. The first square in the label says, "In 2005, when Gloria turned 40...", then her OZ print next to that, then each person's fabric with their birthday.

I really enjoyed making this quilt. As the fabric selections came in, I didn't really know how it would turn out, but as you can see, it's gorgeous! And the title was perfect for a 40th birthday quilt.

Marie

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