When my Gramma started to show signs of Alzheimer's, I decided to make her a 9 block sampler in very bright colors. She loved extremely brights and hated my preferred muted traditional palette. I picked 9 blocks that pointed out a connection between her and I. I wrote a little memory story about each block and had it bound at kinko's so she'd have a book to read to go with her quilt. I wanted a grandmother's fan in the quilt and hadn't made one since my very first quilting class. I posted on here the problems I was having getting the blades attached to the handle correctly. The curve was kicking my butt. I ended up making 4 or 5 of them and I couldn't get that part of the block. I kept having to make more cause I seam ripped and resewed them so much the pieces were falling apart.
The gal who wrote the grandmother's fan tutorial on here contacted me and asked if she could help. I had no sewing experience and had no clue what easing was. She wrote her very first tute, just on that block. A light bulb went on and I understood it, but still couldn't piece it correctly. Another quilter from this board, living just a half an hour away, contacted me and we met at her favorite quilt shop. She used the same tutorial advice, but showed me step by step what to do. I made a beautiful grandmother's fan block thanks to these two fabulous quilting board member. I finished Gramma's Quilt in January, 2009. She passed away in December, 2010. She knew I was related to her at the end, but wasn't sure how. But she sat down with me the September before she died and showed me this beautiful quilt her granddaughter had made. She had read the book with it so much, some of the pages showed signs of her doggearing them. She couldn't tell me which granddaughter it was that made it for her (she only had 3), but she was so passionate about the memories and she said she didn't remember anything in the book, but learned something new about her granddaughter every time she read it. It blessed me to my core.
When Gramma passed away, I inherited her quilt. It sits at work on my chair and every time I look at it I'm reminded of our last conversations. I couldn't have ever finished it without the help on this board. I've picked up tons of tricks and tips over the years, but this one is my favorite.