A Dresser and a Seismograph

I thought I first met Sarah about 3 years ago. Her husband Danny was a grad school colleague and she attended one of our workshops. It turned out she was a grad student as well, albeit at a different university. A university where I knew some grad students in her department. And so we played the name game and figured out who we knew in common. And then Sarah paused and said, "did you sell a dresser a few years ago?" As it turned out, we had sort of met previously. My roommate and I were selling an extra dresser (donated by my third cousins and no longer needed) and Sarah bought it from us. Totally random, except that when she came to pick it up my she and my roommate realized the friend they had in common who was the friend that linked Sarah and I in our "getting to know you" discussion.

Fast forward a few years and Sarah and Danny welcomed Sam into their lives this spring. I almost mailed them this quilt, but when I realized I would be in California in June, I decided to wait and bring it along with me. And then, because life sometimes really works out, I spent the weekend staying at the apartment of friends who live mere minutes away from Danny and Sarah. This quilt sprung from "Spring Chicken" and reminds me how the same types of piecing can make distinctly different quilts. In this case, I love the cluster of colors within what I think of as the seismograph -- Sam is a California baby -- in the middle. I also love love love the borders. I know there are some who don't think borders belong on modern quilts; I disagree. I think borders can be the quilt or, in this case, make the quilt. It's the combination of frames in different colors and widths that draw in the eye.

I pieced the back from several remnants from the front borders as well as several larger pieces from my stash. The stipple-quilting in pale yellow is most visible against the brown but fades into the rest of the quilt. This might represent my best stippling to date.

It can be hard to pick a favorite part of or fabric in a quilt. But in this case, there was no question: the aqua binding wins. It's gentle and fun, sweet and playful, charming and edgy.