My aunt and godmother, Margie Allard, turned 80 this summer. In celebration, her two godchildren (myself and my aunt Mary Allard) decided to put together a Fairy Godmother Party. Thus the tiara and wing getup in the picture! I also fashioned a magic wand from a dowel, cardboard, white glittery fabric, vintage rhinestone buttons, and ribbons. We celebrated her birthday with a big family reunion at my aunt Barbie's lake house in Addison VT.
For Margie's gift, I made this lovely sunflower quilt, based on a pattern I had purchased at the a quilt show in Lowell, MA last year. The pattern is based on a quilt housed in the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne Vt. You can see the pattern at this link: http://hooplapatterns.com/heirloom_sunflower.html
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.I saw this quilt many years ago, and have been considering making it ever since. I hand appliqued the flowers, stems and leaves by hand, then did some beautiful machine applique to finish the quilt. The flowers are a little bit lighter than the original -- but I love this yellow spotted fabric!
Margie was very surprised at the gift. I call the quilt "Spreading Sunshine," because that's just what Margie does. She's a nurse practioner who has travelled all over the world healing the sick, helping the impoverished in Jamaica, Ceylon, Malawi, and more. She's a passionate collector of antique linens, and is the Allard family historian. Her passion for life and interest in travel and history is an inspiration for many in our family.
I knew that Margie volunteered at the Shelburne Museum, helping to conserve quilts. She's an expert seamstress -- in fact her first degree from the University of Vermont was in Home Economics. What I didn't know, is that she helped to conserve the back of the orignial sunflower quilt at the Shelburne Museum. How cool is that?
