Met with the client again today. Lovely person. I laid out swatches on a large dining table, and I pointed out what shirt fabrics I thought should be eliminated from a couple of the six quilts and which quilt-tops needed more attention by way of color variety or harmony. She assented without hesitation to my recommendation that we remove certain shirts from consideration. She went through all six sets of swatches twice. We added a couple of shirts to a couple of quilts. It took a half hour to do the quilting business, then another half hour to sit around and get better acquainted personally.
She is very pleased and excited. I am very lucky to have stumblied upon such a client, who is so decisive and so complimentary.
And she said she wants me to make shirt pillows as well -- small throw pillows with a fragment of a shirt front on each one -- button plaquettes and the corner of a shirt pocket or of a button down collar. "Great minds think alike" -- I had already decided I was going to make a little white shirt-front pillow for her all white bedroom -- as a gift -- so I was able to quickly sketch out a design for such little pillows for the grandchildren.
So my next step is to make some miniquilts and abuse them to see how the shirt fabrics interact with each other and with the whole cloth we've chosen for the sashing, borders, and backgrounds. And I will continue marking and cutting the shirts I am fairly confident will be used. I'm also ready to buy some whole cloth, now that she has approved the swatches of same (it's all Kona cotton -- Kona's colors are so true and the fabric is such a good weight), and I'll start quick-cutting the sashing and borders. It won't be long before I choose which quilt-top I will start assembling first, and I will get the machine embroiderer I've fount to make on the first "memorial" borders with the deceased husband's name and birthdate.
The client wrote me another check :-) She's satisfied and excited.
I'm posting this for those of you who have asked me to keep you posted about how this project is progressing. If there's anything in particular you want to know about the quilts, the client's needs, or the business terms, please ask. Those of you who are following this with any interest will have to be patient -- I have until next Christmas to make these six quilts!
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