Number of entrants: 2

Both stories were suspenseful, entertaining and truly horrible! Exactly what was requested. Not only that, but each had a completely different tale and they told it so well…

Instead of tossing a coin to decide 1st and 2nd place (because they were both equally good) – I decided to declare a tie for 1st Place.

So…

First Place goes to:

Karen Heydorn for ‘The Raffle Quilt’

And to…

Becky Smith for ‘The Wedding Quilt’

The Wedding Quilt

My story starts with my cousin’s son getting married. I saw a log cabin quilt in a magazine. The log cabins were a combination of off-white, muted greens and muted rose fabrics. When placed together, they made the shape of a heart. I was so happy with the way it turned out.

I sent it to the wedding to have the guests sign the muslin with well-wishes for the happy couple (unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the wedding).

My cousin sent the quilt back to me.

Now that the piercing was done and the quilt signed, I took the huge quilt to IHQ to have my friends there help me baste the top, batting and backing together (a real quilting bee experience). To this point, not a horrific undertaking right??

Well, I proceeded to ask a long-arm quilter to do the quilting (because, let’s face it, it was too big for me to quilt by hand). She informed me that she wouldn’t be able to quilt it until all of the basting was removed (heavy sigh). So I took it home and started to undo the beautiful basting.

It was finally ready to be quilted!!

Well, it was then that my cousin informed me that the happy couple were going to get a divorce.

Now what to do with a beautiful quilt with well-wishes for a couple getting a divorce??

Since there was no rush to do anything, I put it aside for a while.

A few months went by and I pulled it out of hiding. I realized that I could applique some vintage-looking flowers over the well-wishes, and use it for my own bed.

I painstakingly chose, ironed on Wonder under, cut out and ironed on the flowers. It was looking lovely!!

I went on vacation with my husband and son last July, quilt almost finished. Then we got a call, our house burnt down.

The quilt went up in smoke.

I have pictures of my problem child quilt and will hopefully get a chance to try, try again.

May the doomed, haunted and cursed quilt rest in pieces.

The Raffle Quilt

More than ten years ago I volunteered to sew on a sleeve for the guild’s raffle quilt about a week prior to the faire. After completing the task, I decided to lay the quilt out on a bed in a guest room & my heart stopped when I noticed a hole (completely though the quilt) about the size of a dime. Horrified, I called the president of the guild with the news to report the damage & very little time to fix a BIG problem.

I delivered the quilt to a Thursday night quilt guild meeting when a decision was made to appliqué a design over the damaged area. One of our members designed and appliquéd a vine & flowers across the top, down the damaged side & even had to have the vine go over one corner to the back area to cover the damage. The appliqué was worked on from the Monday of set up until the Thursday before opening on Friday.

The addition of the appliqué added to the beauty of the quilt and the raffle went off without any further horrid stories to tell.

P.S.

Those ladies who saved the day are still active in our guild!

Quilt Faire Chair: Joanne Padelford

Appliqué designed and sewn by: Barbara Cleveland

♥  TTFN  ♥