Training Walk and Quilt Order Pictures

I had a training walk this morning and it went pretty well. Three women joined Jack and myself for the walk and we left the Norwalk trailhead at 7:45. We stopped for a restroom and stretching break in Monroeville before heading to the Sand Hill trailhead outside of Bellevue, seven miles away. After a short break, Jack and two of the women returned to Norwalk by way of a car while the other woman and I made the seven mile trek back to Norwalk. It was a beautiful day for the trip and it was nice to meet other 3-Day walkers. I'm a bit tired tonight, but not bad. I'm happy that I was able to get the 14 miles in and feel pretty good. I don't remember when I reached the 14 mile mark last year, but when I think about it, I still have to add 6 miles to that for three days come August!

Unfortunately I developed my first blisters today and I will have to get in the habit of taping my feet before anymore training walks. YUCK!! I have a short walk scheduled for tomorrow morning at the Norwalk Reservoir. We will walk the Reservoir perimeter 3 times to get 6 miles. Jack will be joining us at the marina, but will fish rather than walk. My nephew Sam is hoping to join him there. They will enjoy themselves and it's nice to have them there in case we need anything.

I told you I would include pictures of the T-shirt quilt that I finished, so here it it. The pictures aren't great because I was home alone when I finished the quilt and didn't have anyone to hold it up for me. Oh well.... There were so many T-shirts of all shapes and sizes that I decided to put this together without sashing or borders. The woman who ordered the quilt really wanted to have the front be just the T-shirts anyway. To fill some of the "empty" spaces, I used leftover fabrics from the shirt backs, sleeves, etc. I made sure that every design and logo was added to this quilt because the shirts belonged to a man who passed away 2 years ago and this was ordered by his wife for their 3 year old son. Because of the layout, there are a lot of partial seams, but they really weren't too bad. Also, I did not use interfacing on this quilt. I had to be very careful to avoid stretching the fabric while cutting and sewing, but I was surprised at how little stretching I had. Te finished size is 80" x 96".

I also finished another quilt order and delivered it. The ten hand pieced blocks in this quilt were made by the great grandmother of the woman who ordered the quilt. She originally had 20 blocks, but gave half of them to a cousin. She wanted a quilt made from the remaining 10 to give to her grandmother as a birthday gift. I was able to find some vintage fabrics (print and muslin) and some close reproductions. She wanted a large quilt, at least a double so I figured that I had no choice but to put the blocks on point and add a border. I embroidered the history of the quilt blocks and quilt and placed that in the center of the quilt.

I embroidered a feathered wreath in the alternate blocks and quilted a grid over the entire quilt top. I really like the way it turned out and so did the woman who ordered it and her elderly grandmother. I'm glad!