12. Serendipity by Nancy Roberston

"On January 30, 2006 I wrote in my journal: Life is simple. I cut into new fabric (old pillowcases, shirts, sheets bought in Vancouver thrift shops). Chose light blues & whites. Sewed center piece together – bland – but will try to keep it mellow & simple. Totally addicted to fabric and sewing.

The search for fabric also became addictive. I continued to search thrift shops, garage sales and flea markets always on the lookout for more fabric. I brought my finds home, washed, cut and ironed them. My daughter mailed me a small piece of tiny stripped, blue leftover fabric and my brother-in-law cleaned out his trunk and gave me a large piece of blue linen he found inside.

I didn't know what I was making. I just wanted to sew fabric together to see what it would look like. It became too large for a placemat so I thought maybe it could be a tablecloth. But I couldn't stand the idea of someone spilling spaghetti on the love whites and soft shades of blue.

The idea that it could become a queen-sized quilt materialized as the project grew larger and larger. When I made the last four corners, I was almost out of fabric. I just sewed what I had together. Incredibly, it was only out a half an inch when I sewed the last corner on. The making of the top of this quilt was surely serendipity.

I bought a queen-sized sheet at Zellers for the back and it was too small. I sewed strips together out of all the scraps and sewed them into the sheet to make it big enough for the back. The task of machine quilting it all together was daunting on my mother's old Singer sewing machine. Many times I got discouraged because it buckled and overlapped and looked messy to me. When I put it aside to take it all apart, my daughter phoned me and said, "Just finish it, Mom. If you don't, it will always lay in a bag in the attic. It will look beautiful when you're finished and you won't notice your mistakes." She was right."

This quilt was pieced & machine quilted by Nancy Robertson.
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