Angel's Quilt

This was my first Turning Twenty quilt.  [photo taken at quilt shop where Chris and I met]

Our LQS owner constantly pooh-poohed this pattern (she's entitled to her opinion) but, as a new quilter, I loved the way the shapes and colors were mixed together without me having to choose what went where. I still didn't trust myself to work randomly.

From another LQS, I purchased a coordinated bundle of Blended Quilts III fat quarters. The soft colors reminded me so much of my now-fragile mother ~ the mixture of soft gentle colors, a comforting jumble of exquisite patterns, and those full-blown rose blossoms (my mother loved her rose bushes) . . . poignant and bittersweet, persistently endearing.

Touched by an Angel
Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

[2009 note ~ this lovely quilt now covers my grandfather's dining room table, the base of my studio ironing table . . . a constant reminder that I dared to take a chance and work with something new]