Under the Needle: April

 Last month ended on a sad note. My friend, Jackie passed away. She was 85 and has been my longarm quilter since I began quilting, 18 years ago. The first 2 years I only made a few and I hand quilted or quilted a simple cross-hatch on those. This is the first quilt she quilted for me in 2010.

It is well loved these days, but still a favorite. I probably wouldn't even still be a quilter if it wasn't for her.

Jackie was always so encouraging and kind to me when I began making quilts. She was a retired teacher, working in the fabric department at Walmart when I met her. I was always delighted when I was there and found her working. We struck up a friendship and soon after, I asked her if she knew anyone who quilted for the public. She said that she was considering it, but wasn't sure if she would be able to stay busy enough. I vividly recall that conversation and telling her, "Oh, I will keep you busy!" LOL. At the time, I only knew one friend who was a quilter, but word spread and she was always swamped. 

To this day I have finished 183 quilts. I quilted 14 of those, and she did the rest. At 85, she still pieced every day but had stopped long arming last year.

Her daughter, who teaches school, now does the quilting. When I stopped by after Jackie's passing, she told me that she was moving to Texas to be closer to her daughter and SIL and 5 grandchildren. I am tickled for her, but sad for me. But her son still lives here and she'll be back often so we're going to continue as before. 

I'm not even sure if there are other folks who quilt for the public in the area, but after all these years, they have become friends and they have spoiled me. I will miss this dear friend.

DH was away for 6 days at the first part of the month moving cows and I feel like I spent more time in my sewing room than I usually do, but I don't feel like I accomplished much more. If I wasn't in the sewing room, I had my hands in the dirt outside and the weather was so nice that I was out there a lot...behind a shovel. Grin.

I picked up 3 more quilts from Sandy at the beginning of the month and stitched the bindings onto the fronts so those are close to a finish

I finished piecing the blocks for Old Dirt Road.

I cut everything for the 6 little flannel quilts I posted about here and I pieced 3 of them. Pandas

                         

And frogs

And the squirrels (only have a photo of the 1 block)

And just 2 days ago, I picked up 3 more quilts

I am chipping away at that list I made back in January. Next up in the binding queue is my Love You S'more x2 camping quilt

And I have 2 finishes this month - Land of Enchantment

And Pink is Perfect for a birthday girl

With the longer daylight hours, I'm pretty bushed by the time the sun sets so my evening binding time has slowed down, but I don't mind. I love getting my hands in the dirt as much as I love making quilts and I feel blessed to be able to do both.