It's Twins!

My goodness, I'm not sure what happened, but I've not posted on the blog in more than a month! It's not because I'm not sewing or crafting though. Just life happening day by day I guess. Anyway, these two quilts got their start in an "orphan block" exchange at our Country Roads Quilters group. Members brought in blocks and projects they'd started but had no desire to complete. The projects were heaped on tables and we were allowed to "shop" in order to choose one or more projects we wanted to complete. The blocks for this Drunkard's Path quilt caught my eye right away, so I adopted them. Some blocks were pieced already, while the parts to sew others were in the bag. I just had to finish some blocks, and then assemble the quilt. The interesting part of the story is that these blocks were pieced by The Old Sewing Machine Man, Johnny Johnston. His wife Debra brought them to the swap. But there's more to the story.

About three years ago, the guild held the same swap activity and I got these Drunkard's Path blocks as well. These were pieced by Debra herself and given up for the orphan block swap. Again, I just had to piece some more blocks and then assemble them into the quilt. This quilt was underway when I spotted her husband's blocks and felt the draw to complete them both. I began to refer to these two quilts as "The Johnston Family Twins." Once I finished the tops, both went back to Debra for long-arm quilting. Then back to me for binding. We had the big reveal at a recent meeting, so both Debra and I presented these quilts. They will be donation quilts, but I'd kind of like to keep them together if possible, so we're not yet sure where they will go. But it was fun to complete the two projects that were started by a married couple.

Here's a close-up of the swirl pattern Debra chose to complement both quilts. And below is a photo of the backs where I pieced in the extra blocks from each project. Isn't that little pin doll cute? I bought her years ago at a quilt show and she goes on every quilt retreat and works hard to help out around the sewing room. She'll photo-bomb pictures every now and then, so you'll see her pretty face again.

One thing I did that kept me away from the blog was to take a trip for several days to Amelia Island, Florida, for a quilt retreat. A quilting friend from Pennsylvania joined me and we both enjoyed discovering this fascinating community. There is a wonderful art gallery with a large display inside, and even a decorative outside. The free-form mosaic designs cover the building and walls. I'll show photos of the projects we worked on in another post. The weather was lovely, and we thoroughly enjoyed the beach, the retreat, and the town. We also went on a river cruise that took us to Cumberland Island where we could see some of the wild horses that inhabit the island. It's worth a visit if you get to Florida! I'm thinking a return retreat is in order.