A Quilt Redeemed & a small giveaway

I share with you today a quilt with a past ...

Some of you may recognize this beauty as

  Amanda Murphy's pattern Sunflower Row, 

using her Bella line of fabric.

Back story on this quilt is that last fall I was given the amazing

opportunity (for me) to piece and quilt a new pattern with a new

line of fabric to be displayed at Fall Market.  To say the least, I

was over the moon ecstatic ... seriously.  

I committed myself to the task, received the new pattern

and all of the necessary materials to make the quilt.

Oh, I so wanted to be worthy ... 

silly I know .. but that is what I felt.

My work to be shown at MARKET! ...

Then my world fell in on itself...

Divorce aftermath, sick children, the part time job I

had then went seriously south, but I applied for and got

a new full time job, however the process itself took its toll,

over-committed myself on too many quilting projects

just so I can earn a bit more money to make ends meet,

then I got sick and to top it all off ... my sewing machine

dies in the middle of quilting what I wanted to be

perfection.  Yes, I wanted to seriously throw in 

the towel ... in every aspect of life at that time.

Not complaining, just explaining ...

Reality of life hit and it hit hard.

Well, the quilt ... I did everything I could just to finish

and send this quilt off to ensure it arrived by market.

I so seriously stressed myself out over it I know I

contributed to making myself sicker.  What was worse,

I knew I was sending off what for me was not quality work

... hey I'm type A +++ ... it's even my blood type!

Well, long story short, the quilt didn't make it to market.

It was that sad ... by the time it made it to where it was going,

the binding had pulled in so many places and the quilting

I had to rip out left wholes ... well, you can imagine.

When I received the quilt back from a very nice, but

probably embarrassed designer,  I stuffed this quilt in the

deepest, darkest corner I could find and tried to forget about it.

Well, I couldn't and didn't forget about it.  It sat heavily on my mind.

So recently, when I heard my daughters' school was looking for

donations to auction off for a school fundraiser, this quilt came to mind.

I pulled this baby out of the corner, carefully pulled off all of the

binding, cut the quilt edges so it was square again,

pressed out the binding and re-sewed it on, very carefully

making sure I would make the designer proud ... or better yet

make myself proud as I'm the worst critic of myself.

I can proudly state now that this quilt has been redeemed and 

will be donated for a good cause and I thank absolutely everyone that 

helped from the beginning of the process to the happy ending that

the quilt and I have both come to.

Thank you!

On a fun note, my little two year old friend is learning the

important function of potty training at day care, so for

her mother, I made this laminated tote to carry her

clothes back and forth to preschool. 

She liked it .... {smiles}

This weekend I also made myself a new wallet using

This & That's Koin Keeper pattern by Sherri K. Falls:

And, since I was already working with Bella, 

I used Bella for the wallets also.

When I finished the wallet, I realized that since I attach my

wallet to my set of keys so I can "grab and go" if I have 

to make a quick trip to the store, or I don't want to carry

my purse, I have my coin purse-wallet and keys in one spot.

I really have gotten hooked on using this method.  

I can say I haven't lost my keys since I started doing this 

{grin ... I probably just jinxed myself ... grin}

So, the second wallet I made, I modified the pattern, 

just a smidgen ...

I added a driver's license window pocket to the 

outside of the wallet and secured the pocket with a

tiny loop and button to ensure it doesn't fall out.

Yep, I'm set now ... 

but now I have an extra wallet.

And I truly thought that one of my you, 

my beloved followers, might enjoy using

the first wallet for yourself, or to give as a gift.

Here's the deal:

If you are one of my favorite peeps (a follower of my blog)

and you would like the chance to have this wallet mailed

to you ... can be in the US or International ...

please leave me one comment telling me you are a

Why-Knot-Kwilt follower, and answer me this:

What kind of chair do you use to sit in at your sewing machine?

Goofy question?  I know, but I have a bad back and more

often than not, it hurts a lot worse when I sit and sew, so

I am soon going to go chair shopping and I'd love to know

what most of you find comfortable.

Best of luck to you and I will random draw the 

winner on Friday, April 26th.  

No-reply bloggers, you know the drill, I hope, by now.

Put your email address in your comment or if you

are the randomly drawn winner, you can't be contacted

and another will be drawn to win.

Easy enough?  I hope so ... if you've read this far

you truly are appreciated and I thank you.

Until next time, I wish you well and happy,