All,

As some of you know, I belong to a quilt club that donates all projects to people who have lost their homes to fires or tornadoes in our area. We rely completely on donations to get things done. Mostly its member donations. A non-member donated us some garbage bags of fabric in the fall and we were finishing up organizing it this morning and you will never guess what we found:

3 finished tops. 1 machine sewn, 1 completely hand sewn and 1 a little of both. I think it may have been 2 different peoples work donated in one bag. The machine sewn is a basket weave, the hand sewn is a bow tie and the little of both is some type of star...maybe blue grass.

The most beautiful surprise of all is that there were pieces, partial blocks and finished blocks of one pattern totalling 31 blocks. They look like a variation of the dresden plate. There was a center hub circle, surrounded by a circle of yellow or gold, then the rest of the pieces making up a large dresden plate. Some of these fabrics could go back more than 3 decades. I remember my mother wearing some types of these fabrics and some I know I had in my kindergarten dresses. EACH AND EVERY PIECE looked like it was individually cut and they were all handsewn with incredible precision. We came to the conclusion that perhaps the sewer passed away or something and her family bagged everything up and just gave it away. It's just the most beautiful type of find. It's like finding 100.00 in the laundry. How often does that happen??

Thought I would share this with people who would understand.

~M~

better than Christmas :P

I'll jump up and down and squeal with ya, How wonderful.

what a gift for you gals and for whomever will receive these pieces passed on. :D

What fun! I cannot leave orphan blocks behind at yard sales, all ending up on my endless project list... for someday.

I am hoping that whoever worked on those projects will look down and see how much comfort they have given to another in a time of loss. It is almost like having an angel looking down and giving a hug.

M~~~What a wonderful surprise!!!! This is always the best feeling for a quilter!!!

A friend of mine called the pattern some type of wagon wheel. It's interesting.

It is so ...um...I cannot think of the word...IRONIC? no...that's really not the word....but...we reap what we "sew"....
and every dog has its day...(BUT IN THE GOOD WAY)
What we put into life, we really do get that back out of it.
Congrats on finding such a wonderful gift!