Today was a very good day. A box about 8 inches high and 8 inches square showed up, and seeing ?fabric samples? on the description of contents, I naturally opened it straight away. What a marvellous collection! Some bits of fabric cut into 2.5? squares, the picture carefully centred. Some bits were bigger than 2.5? and lovely bright colours. So many, many different fabrics ? many with cats ? that I pawed through it all with mounting excitement. As with any time a box of fabric scraps is turned over, it wouldn?t quite go back into the box.
What a lovely, lovely gift. Someone in postcode 20016 in the USA made me a very happy person. Someone paid $30.50 in postage, and I got to dream about how I could put the 2.5 inch squares with the other ones I?m making into 4-patches. I thought how I could use the random scraps in my ?scrap-box blocks? that I string-piece until they are 6.5? inches and then sash for quick quilts that have lots of vibrant colours. Even the tiny scraps are great, because I have nearly all the 6,400 charms I?ve been saving to make a quilt from 1.5? squares. Now I have enough! All my squares will be different! Best of all, I had recently used all my scraps in my scrap-box blocks and was wondering what I would do now. Well, that mystery has been solved.
I was sitting there with my morning cup of tea and all my new ideas, bits of fabric all over my desk?.. and ANOTHER, bigger box showed up. Wow! This one was 6 inches high, and about 10 inches long and 8 inches wide, from postcode 20886. This secret admirer paid nearly $50 to send me this box. (!!) It was absolutely stuffed with wonderful fabric. I found more squares carefully cut to 2.5?, more randomly sized pieces and.. joy of joy?. A big stack of purple and cream 4-patches! I found more and more of those, digging down to the bottom?. Then I found
4-patches in the bright colours I love. I started making piles. I found white squares with lines drawn on the back ? someone was planning to make half-square triangles. I found half of a ?Jewel Box? type of block, in purples and creams. Was someone planning to make a purple Jewel Box? There are loads of blocks, and I want to lay them all out and see what this person was planning. I love purple! So much fun awaits?Thank you, thank you! My secret admirer, you made me so happy today. I think of all the things I want to make, all the quilts I have planned that take 1.5, 2, or 2.5 inch squares and you will help me make them all! I think about how I can use these lovely purple blocks and what colours of fabric I have that will go with it. Thank you for the fabric, but thank you for all the dreams that jumped out of the box too!
Yours, Jo in Scotland