drum roll please....

As many of you know, I have been waiting on pins and needles (no pun intended) to get news on my quilt which I sent off to backporchquilters via regular mail just 2 weeks ago. That is coast to coast...San Francisco, California to Murphy, North Carolina. As I understand it, the usual turnaround to have a quilt long arm stitched can be 3 - 6 months, so the fact that they were able to process my baby so quickly is a gift!

But the giving does not stop there. I had a nice chat with Rhonda today who shared some wonderful snippets from the adventure my quilt has been on. I am so grateful for the loving care Russ, Rhonda and even Dana from Old Red Barn provided to make sure my baby made it back to me in one piece (again -no pun intended).
Between my novice skills and my 1952 Singer, there were 16 un-sewn seams revealed when they stretched the quilt tight for the long arm. I had found a dozen or more while pressing the quilt prior to sending it off and repaired them, but when they stretch the material tight like a trampoline all the holes really become obvious. So Russ and Rhonda pulled the quilt back off the rack and stitched up all those spots for me. This was totally above and beyond the call of duty! Well then they start doing there beautiful long arm quilting (They gave me the Vertigo stitch shown on one of Dana's earlier quilts) and the needle gets stuck on another unraveled seam causing a tear on both the top and bottom layers. The mishap was totally my fault, but they took it upon themselves to fix it. Isn't that wonderful?!

They called up Dana who lives down the road and ask her if she has any Anna Marie Horner Good Folks fabric (photo above) they could use to repair my quilt. She sends her husband over with everything she has and they re-sew the square for me. Can you believe it??

Then there was the issue of the small (1/2 of a dime) sized hole on the underside. To be honest, I wouldn't have probably noticed it, and if I did I would have happily stitched it up with embroidery thread to give it a vintage look! Well they repaired it with a patch that says"Old Red Barn Quilt Along 2009." How cool is that??! They did all of this for me for $110 including the quilting thread and the cost to ship it back to me (mind you, its a King size quilt 90 x 100"ish and it has the coolest stitching design ever!).

I am absolutely tickled. I'm telling you, Russ and Rhonda are destined to be my life long friends. I'm just amazed at their kindness, generosity and craftsmanship.

I HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS RUSS AND RHONDA - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

So the cliff notes of this tale are as follows:

• I made a king size quilt in less then 2 months by participating in the Old Red Barn's Quilt Along (hostessed by Dana) with my fellow WASSIMAites- Cathy, Stella, Sooz, Cameron and Lori
• I sent out the top stitching to backporch quilters in NC per the recommendation of Dana who uses them all the time.
• Russ repaired a heap of bad stitching AND repaired 2 holes that occurred due to a unraveled seam.
• Dana, hostess of the Quilt Along, provided scraps of Good Folks from her own stash to make the repairs on my quilt.
• They covered the underside hole with a patch that reads "Old Red Barn Quilt Along 2009."
• They emailed me photos of my finished quilt to hold me over until it arrives.

HELLO! What an amazing quilt story from amazing quilters and my new BFF's. I can't wait to stitch on the trim and see the finished beauty on my bed! Wowza. I'm hooked! I love quilting! Now if you could all send special delivery prayers, vibes, ju ju, energy and white light my way so I can win that very special prize on Monday. I'm not saying what it is cuz I'm afraid to jinx it but if it was mine, I'd never miss another stitch.