Amelia

Who is Amelia? This is Amelia. She’s the hedgehog in the holly.

Have you been watching Survivor? When the show first aired many moons ago, I was so hooked on it that I actually left a dinner party down the street, came home to “check on the children”(watch the show), and then returned for dessert. When I tried to explain such behaviour to myself, I realized I was (in my dreams) on the show, competing against the real contestants, and thought I might win. I no longer arrange my schedule around Survivor, but I do love a good quest, so when my local Guild challenged members to make something from scraps and bring it to the next meeting, I was on it.

I collected scraps from my cutting table and floor, put them in a baggie, brought them to retreat, and made some of them into a slab. But what does one do with a 23×28” slab? Bring it home and look at it on the design wall, of course. Think it could turn into borders of a baby quilt, but what to put in the centre? Then I remembered Elizabeth Hartman’s Fancy Forest. One of those creatures would be perfect! I even owned the pattern. The squirrel, in hedgehog disguise, the DrEAMi (drop everything and make it) project, was born.

In a flash, I was off to the cutting table, with a fistful of  scraps and the hedgehog instructions. Amelia was constructed and bordered in no time. That slab made a great border, even if I had to add a few bits to make it big enough. I hesitated slightly about the white border; the piece was too small without it, but it needed some livening up. I glanced across the room, saw an ugly orphan block, and turned it into 8 half square triangles. Somehow, those triangles didn’t look ugly at all- they were perfect to delineate a frame. On they went, and in several blinks of my eyes, the little framed hedgehog was quilted and bound. My longarm is finally behaving well; I had fun making curly hair and glasses. She was christened Amelia by my friend Lorraine, and will be donated, likely to our local Ronald McDonald house. I hope she goes to a good home and brings her new owner as much joy as making her brought me.

Linking up with the originator of the DrEAMi idea, Sandra at mmm!quilts.