French Braid Quilt

Today I quilted a customer quilt, a French Braid. The pattern is Feather Frenzy by Linda Taylor. I just love this quilt. As beautiful as it looks in this photo, it is even prettier in person! Her fabric choices are just lovely.

Last February, just after I got my longarm, Michael and I met our friends Ricardo and Sylvie, who were visiting from Italy, in Ft. Lauderdale for lunch. It was a gorgeous day, and we took some photos of each other with the ocean in the background. While we were reviewing the photos we had just taken, some that I had previously taken of my longarm were on the memory card. So I showed them, explained what a longarm was, and how excited I was about learning how to use it. After lunch, we said goodbye, and each went our separate ways. We both went to Miami, as it turned out. Michael and I went to visit Brandon, and they went to a dinner party hosted by friends we did not know. We hadn't planned to see them again, that trip.

Our phone rang just as we were finishing dinner at our favorite restaurant in Miami that night. It was Ricardo, calling from his friend's dinner party. He said that the hostess was a quilter and that he really thought we should meet! So, we got the address, and with Brandon's navigation skills, (he drives a fire truck for Miami Dade, so he's kind of a human GPS), drove right to the home. The party was outside, at a long table set under the trees, which were lit with little white fairy lights. They had moved the living room furniture outside, and people were lounging around under the stars. Miki, the hostess showed me her quilting room and several works in progress. I was so impressed with her work. She had taken a class with the author of the French Braid book and had a great eye for color. Our friends just looked on, stunned. They said, it is like you two are speaking some foreign language! She mentioned having a bad experience with her longarm quilter (the person took 6 months (!) to get the quilt back to her, and it was a quilt for a little boy, so she had requested no flowers, and it came back quilted with flowers)

So, later this summer I came across her card and sent her an email. She contacted me and sent me this beauty to quilt. I got it yesterday, finished it today. She should have it by Tuesday.

I hope she likes it!