"Label Equalizer" - Ewa's

I know, it’s small.

It’s simple.

The original Sweetness and Light.

All it is is 3.5” (cut) squares which included labels more or less centered and then I used a 1.5” cut sashing. The border was cut 3.5”. I used leftover binding from the gray and blue bargello. I had made a bit too much. :)

I made it just like I made the one I call Sweetness and Light or Random Act 2 except it was not on point and I didn’t add the thin inner border.

Premium Labels - part of the Upcycled Blues series

I wanted to make a special thank you quilt to a lady (Ewa) who I met last fall. She has given me a lot of upcycleds and materials to work with.

I had the idea to make HER a labels quilt - but my desire was to keep it simple - not like the one I made which was Premium Labels. That one looks like this - and you can see more pictures here.

I had been cutting apart quite a few shirts lately and if you remember, with the gray and blue upcycled bargello, I used all upcycleds. I decided to strip up all the extra pieces here and there leftover from that rather large project - front and back - in 1.5” strips and go ahead and use the labels.

I made it an 11x14 layout. After adding the border, it makes a 51”x63” quilt. I pretty much wiped out my labels in these colors. Not totally…but almost.

(I believe too many of us don’t use these labels - and why not? They are 100% fun! Why not use them?)

I saw that there was no way I could get a quilt big enough to satisfy me out of only those labels, so I went ahead and added other “cool” colors - green, purple, gray, even black and white. There was also one tan on there but it did have some navy striping. I also didn’t worry about whether or not the green was a “warm green” or a “cool green”. The same with the blues, grays, etc. Green? I used it. Purple or lavender? I used it!

It just barely worked. I had to keep searching, but I found 154 such labels.

The backing - all upcycleds. The dark gray stripe down the back along with the border were from a sheet she gave me a few weeks ago.

Ewa was scheduled to help me with the Big Quilt Give away on Saturday, but as the week went along and my plans seemed like they were going to fall apart, I didn’t know what to do.

At first I had planned to just work on this one and then finish it some time next week - kind of as a “no thinking” project. Then, with all the corona virus thing, I was having a hard time focusing anyway, so I decided to just put my heart into it and finish it up. If we were having our give away on Saturday, Ewa was scheduled to help me - maybe I could give it to her then.

And so I did.

Here in Poland we’ve been hit with all kinds of information and news and changes. All week long. Daily.

I didn’t know what to do about the Give Away - but I knew that I could do THIS.

And so I did.

Simple. Nothing fancy.

The border was fabric she had given me only a few weeks ago now.

The white for the sashing strips - the long ones anyway, were from another Ewa whose father passed away and she gave me things from his linen closet area.

I think it is so cool. I actually thought about NOT giving it to her - after all it wasn’t committed to her. But the I rebuked myself. I have too many quilts in this house and I need to spread the wealth around a bit - so I changed my mind about 4x while working on it. it was a real struggle.

I know some of you think I’m an angel or something. But each time I make a special quilt like this, I have a bit of my own heart involved with it and I have a hard time letting it go.

I guess I should be ashamed.

I want to keep them all!

I’m learning to let go. I just have to. I have no. more. room. in this house for quilts.

I gave it to her on Saturday. She loves it as much as I do. She teared up when I gave it to her. My husband told me he saw tears running out from under glasses. (I didn’t notice that - I just noticed the glassy eyes!) I wanted to give her a hug but I was practicing “social distancing” so I didn’t.

I’m so glad I opted to give it away.

There really isn’t enough money in the world to pay for that reaction.

The quilt roll:

Here it is shortly after taking it home. Her cats are checking it out! I don’t know what it is about cats and quilts, but there must be something….

And there’s my “feel good” story for today.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this true story!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

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Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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