Today I packaged up Jan’s future grand daughter’s quilt which she won in my second bloggiversary giveaway. Dragonfly Horses is now jetting its way  to Devon to hopefully cheer up dear Jan while she recuperates from her surgery. Should not be too long before her grand daughter is born as well….a busy time ahead.

This quilt took a lot longer than it should with my husband having a near nervous breakdown due to the work issues at the charity where he works but I finally managed to find the peace to work on it….or rather…the quilt gave me peace as I stitched it….very therapeutic.

It was made using remaining pieces of the fabric from the quilt below

along with dragonfly fabric given to me by my dear friend Ester. The butterflies on the back and binding were found by my husband who is ever vigilant for fabric for me.

I mentioned before that after I completed the quilting …perle cotton, medium stitches I started swirling circles all around the back edging…in chain stitch…just to keep things interesting!

So this long overdue quilt is on its way to Jan….with so much love and thoughts of the baby to come all mixed in with memories of past quilts made using some of these fabrics.

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Jan ….if you lived nearer I would wrap you in the most wondrous of quilts as you recover from your surgery…surrounded by your loved ones in your garden. As it is this goes with my love, my prayers and my sure knowledge that this is a turning point in your life and one that you will handle with your usual wit and grace.

May God bless you and protect you, and the new baby, always

Jan is having corrective surgery on her leg on Tuesday to repair the aftermath of her surgery for cancer years ago.

Those embroidered circles took a while but really make it a little different so it was worthwhile.

Now I am on the final stretch…handstitching the binding…this is my favourite part of a quilt. Rest assured many thoughts and prayers will be going into the final stitching. If I really were magical..I would be stitching magical spells into this quilt…of enchantment and protection for this little baby. As it is I will be praying for her and also for Jan as she prepares for a massive operation on her leg. Please spare a moment for her as she prepares for a hugely time intensive and undoubtedly painful operation. But I am reassured by my knowledge of Jan’s inner strength…she survived  Chondrosarcoma and now she will get through this difficult stage of her life. Maybe she will even write a book about her trials and tribulations…I would definitely buy a copy.

For the quilters out there the horses fabric is by Laurel Burch who suffered herself greatly with an illness of the bones all her life..I find her fabric to be so mystical and love the way she incorperated Native American art with Aztec and Egyptian…she was remarkable and I think Jan would have liked her a lot!

No? Well I am! [open only to past commenters, sorry]

And today I won my very first blogging giveaway!! And on a bloggiversary post too!

The fabulous Miss Mabel of Miss Mabel Studios had a 100th post giveaway and I won!!! Am so excited I won a charm pack and do not know which one so it is all very exciting!

Thanks so much Linda for being so generous.

Almost finished my toddler quilt using scraps from other projects and the dragonfly material that my friend gave me last year. I am quilting in circles  with a gorgeous perle thread which I bought from Spotlight last year. Must get this finished as am about to start the hexagon quiltalong with Aneela of Comfort Stitching fame, although that is actually hexagons 2009 style…by machine….yeah so I can still work on this when not on the dreaded machine. Yes my Janome is finally on its last legs…the tension has been playing up for some time and its actually cheaper to get a new one than to pay for servicing…..madness I know.

Not long now until my 200th post…keep watching  this space!