Teaming up with Kate

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I would be donating to Quilts Recover.  What I didn't mention then, that along with making at least one quilt to donate, I would also have the honor of working with Kate Conklin on a quilt.  Kate decided she wanted to contribute to Quilts Recover, but knew that a finished quilt would be rather pricey to mail overseas.  She put a request on her blog to see if she could find someone that would be willing to take her quilt top and turn it into a finished quilt.  I wasn't the only one to step forward, there were several willing helpers, but it just so happens that I live in the city that Quilts Recover is based.  Kate has more (better) photos of her quilt top, "Through the Trees" over on her blog AND she has a link for the tutorial, so you can make one too!

 Kate's wonderful quilt top made it's long journey from Adelaide to Calgary, and after I quickly pressed out the travel wrinkles, I hung it in my sewing room.  Placing it on my design wall, (to help me figure out how to quilt it;  keep it from getting re-wrinkled; along with plain, old letting me admire it ;o) seemed a little surreal.  I had admired it on Kate's blog such a short time ago and could hardly believe it was now in my home awaiting the final steps to make it into a quilt.

Emailing with Kate, we discovered that both of us thought quilting leaves in some form onto the quilt would be fitting.  Although you can't see from the in progress photo above, I've free motion quilted rows of leaves and some wavy lines (which really show up in the photo above) between them, onto Kate's quilt top.

 Here's a close-up of one of the many free motioned quilted leaves I've stitched onto "Through the Trees".

 I've spaced the leaves with loops, placing double rows of leaves and loops back to back across the width of the quilt.

The trickiest bit about all of this? Hoping I can honor the vision that Kate had for her quilt.  Kate is absolutely marvellous about our sharing and I'm truly delighted to be able to play a part in her quilt, especially since it's destined for someone in need.  What an honor!  It is exciting to think that this "global" quilt will soon be ready to be donated.  I need to finish the quilting first and then a trip to the fabric store to find something for the binding.  Fingers crossed I can accomplish this by the weekend.