A story about an Angel

Yesterday I showed you a photo of a quilt made by my friend Gayle Hartigan.

I have had a few comments on how beautiful the quilt is and how it would have taken a long time.

Well!!

Here’s the thing.

Gayle came into my life out of the blue just a few years back. She was already a keen patchworker, embroiderer and cross stitcher amoung other things.

She came to one of my English paper piecing classes and took to it like a duck to water.

The quilt I showed you yesterday was the quilt she started on.

I had talked about these quilts lending themselves to ugly fabrics and that they are good stash busters. She went home and rumaged through her stash picking out bits of fabric here and there.

The following week we went on a bus trip in search of “Ugly fabric” it was hilarious. The shop owners thought they had died and gone to heaven because here were these mad women buying up all the ugly fabric they could lay their hands on.

She purchased her background and the green for her joiner blocks.

Six months later she had it finished all hand pieced.

That’s not all in that time she also completed this quilt.                                                                      

 

Again, it is all hand done with English paper piecing.

She is a treasure but again that’s not all. Gayle has full sight in one eye and only partial site in the other. Yes you heard me. Also in that 6 months she had 2 carpal tunnel operations and was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis.

She test runs my patterns and does all of the proof reading as well as sews the odd sample or ten for me as well.(That’s where the angel comes in.”

Why am I telling you all of this?

She is such an inspiration to me and many others and I want to share my special friend with you. So for everyone that looks at these quilts and thinks “I could never do that it looks too hard” well it’s not. Anyone can make quilts just like these.

So to finish off this post I would like to say “THANKYOU GAYLE” you will never cease to amaze me with the hurdles you  bound over and the things you achieve.

And I will miss you when you move even if it is only 2 hours away.

I hope that Gayle is as much of an inspration to you as she is to me.

I believe people come into your life for

A reason

A season

or a lifetime.

I do hope it is a life time

Till next time

Sue x x x