Quilter's Alphabet

For three years around the turn of the century (wow - one phrase it feels very odd to use!) I was involved in a quilter version of Secret Pals. We formed a group of about thirty people, put together little biographies and sent them to the coordinator, who then e-mailed us the bio of the woman that we would send things to as a "secret" pal. Think secret santa, but through the mail and with needles and fabric.

While we had a yahoo board set up for the group and we became friends, make no mistake: the group was all about the loot. The suggested value for each monthly package (10 month commitment) was $25. Those who were shipping their packages overseas could reduce the value of the contents to help cover the cost of the shipping. I received packages from a woman in England one year; the next year I offered to take one of the pals overseas. We tried not to reveal our geographical location on the board, and mostly managed to obscure them until close to the end of the year. By publicly posting the contents of our packages each month as a thank you to our pal, we managed to keep the group pretty honest in putting together packages of appropriate value. The hand made items, however, are priceless.

Long story short, my pal one year (2000?) sent me a panel printed with a "Quilter's Alphabet", along with some charms to decorate it. I finally sat down to layer, quilt and embellish it last summer.

It is hung on the sewing room/office wall directly to the right of my sewing machine, and makes me smile every time I look at it. Some samples from the alphabet:

Bleed - bless the fabric that doesn't!

Even - Well, does it look even?

Fudge - adjustment terminology

Marker - please let it wash out*

Needle - feet always find it (Ed.:ain't that the truth!)

Underside - where all the work shows

*Next up off of this roll of film, the only quilt I've made in twenty-seven years of quilt making where this was an issue.