"What's on the line?"

I have a couple of favorite quilt tops on the line and they are full of fabulous scrappy prints! These quilt tops were given to me by my friend, Kristi. We were members of the same church and became close friends even though she was young enough to be my daughter. Age is no boundary to friendship and isn't that a nice thing? We are still friends even though we haven't seen each other in more than ten years. She moved to the west coast with her family and we moved from the suburbs to the lovely town of Henderson. :-) Distance is no barrier to friendship and that's also a very nice thing. Shortly before Kristi moved she asked me to come over and look at a couple of quilt tops that she thought I might be interested in seeing. They were scrappy tops made my her grandmother in Kansas. It wasn't her grandma's normal style of quilting, Kristi said, as most of her quilts were pretty applique ones and well-planned patchwork quilts that were hand-quilted. She showed me two of those lovely quilts that she had received when her grandma passed away. These quilt tops, though, were ones that no family member wanted, but Kristi took them. She saw something in the quilts and knew they couldn't just be discarded. She knew how much I enjoyed teaching and making quilts and so she asked if I would like to have them. And I, of course, said, Yes! Here is the largest one...............
Doesn't it look beautiful blowing in the wind? Now if you double-click on the photo below, you can see a close-up of some of the fabrics............

And another view of the fabrics........

And still another view of the fabulous scrap prints that make up this quilt top!

The second quilt top is slightly smaller and looks just as pretty blowing in the wind as the first quilt top did!

Here are a couple of pictures that you can double-click to enlarge and see the variety of fabric scraps that make up the quilt top.

I really like the fabric strips in the picture below.......yellow ribbons tied in a bow and wouldn't I love to have some of that fabric in my stash right now!!!

I have thanked Kristi many times for putting these quilt tops in my care. One day, I may have them machine quilted so that the fabrics will be stabalized but right now, I keep them wrapped in acid-free tissue. I love to take them out and look at them and wonder what the fabrics were originally used for......dresses or curtains or just for quilts? What a treasure they are!

Now, one more thing about Kristi........a number of years ago, the purple Bachman's Floral truck pulled up in my driveway and the deliveryman brought a bouquet to my door. I remember thinking he might have the wrong house as my husband is not a flower guy. The last time the purple truck came to my door was on my 30th birthday when my mother sent me flowers. It was a lovely and extravagant surprise from her. So when I opened the card and saw that the flowers had come from Kristi, I was a bit surprised. The sentiment on the card made me smile. It said simply......"Just because, Kristi". I loved the sentiment. It was fitting......no real reason, just friendship made Kristi send those flowers. Each time I see the quilt tops that she gave me, I think of those flowers and I think of her and her grandmother, a woman I never met but I know we would have connected through quilting. I love connecting through quilting, through needle and thread and a love of stitching. I count my blessings when I start to count all the friends that I've made through those connections! Some are quilters, some just enjoy looking at quilts and needlework, some craft while others don't, some blog and some don't. They, and you who are reading this, are all friends........just because!!! And isn't that a really nice thing?

Hope this day is the start of a great week!! After several days of very stormy weather here in Minnesota, we are looking at a week of sunshine ahead! Something fun is coming up on my blog tomorrow. Be sure to check in....just because!

Sandi