Gail McGlamery

Yesterday was an exciting day.  I received my first commission for a quilt.  Last spring, I made a storytelling quilt for a friend who was expecting a new baby.  The pattern came from a great book called “The Modern Quilt Workshop” by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr.  It was actually fun to work with novelty fabric for a change and my mom and I had a blast picking out the 1/8 and 1/4 yard selections.

One of the reasons I chose to make her this quilt was that I had the brainchild of including her other three children in the gift.  I did that by picking three different animals that could be found in three of the “story” squares – a ladybug, a red elephant, and a blue fish.   I then found a pattern for the elephant and made up my own for the other two.  So each big sister or brother has their own “piece” of their new sister’s quilt.

My friend called to say they use the quilt almost every day, not just as a play mat but for making up stories, and wants me to create a similar one for a friend of hers with a new baby and older children.  While I love artsy quilts, it really warms my heart when a quilt is used and makes people happy.