100th Post

This beautiful smile belongs to Takuya Takenaka, our guest visiting with us, along with my son, from Japan. As is the custom both of them came bearing omiyage (gifts).

I wanted to send a gift in return that would be something Takuya's mom Kumiko would enjoy. The boys thought something "useful" rather than decorative would be most appropriate.

Takuya is proudly displaying a lap quilt I made in 2002 after I had found and rescued a bag of vintage, hand-pieced nine patches made by an anonymous Branford CT quiltmaker. There are 1930's/1940's/1950's textiles from shirts, flour sacks, pajamas and the like, pieced into nine patches. The lot cried to be completed.

I found reproduction fabric for the solid squares, inner border and backing. The few remaining patches that didn't make it into the body of the piece were appliqued on the outer border and the whole thing hand quilted. I like to think that the spirit of that anonymous quiltmaker is smiling somewhere. I am very happy to think that this piece has found a "real" home after languishing in my studio.