As you know I've been stitching the Hornbook Bestiary as part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year. Last year on February 24th I received an email inviting me to make a square for a special quilt for Nicola. It was presented to her this year as a birthday gift and a big thank you from all of us stitching along with her. We wanted to give something back to Nicola for her generosity and to celebrate her bringing us all together on this Scarlet Letter journey.
We were asked to stitch a 6" square using a motif from the Scarlet Letter sampler we are/were stitching and include a post card with good wishes we wanted to share with Nicola. The cards would go into a memory book for her. I think I had the easiest choice since my sampler was charted in blocks already. I picked the "N is for Nightingale" block! Let's have a look close-up.
Design: "N is for Nightingale" from The Hornbook Bestiary
Designer: The Scarlet Letter
Fabric: 32 ct. cream
Floss: DMC as charted
Started: 3/7/13
Finished: 3/25/13
I had to make a little creative addition to this block thanks to Ms. Shelby. If you look at the block below and compare it to this one, you'll notice there are a few more leaves. That's because someone decided she wanted Nicola's block and pierced a hole in it with her teeth! I had to wrestle it away from her, wash it, and reweave a couple of linen threads in there. Then I covered the weaving with some extra leaves. Talk about heart failure! I love my girl but some days...
If you'd like to see the whole quilt and a cool video of all the blocks, pop over to the Our Scarlet Letter Years blog and have a look! My block shows up around 2:49 on the video. There are 48 squares in the quilt. There are 9 countries over 6 continents represented! Australia, Canada, France, Scotland, Spain, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and 21 States in the US. How cool is that?! You can also click here to see Nicola actually receiving her gifts.
Thank you to all who had a hand in the making of this surprise quilt. It turned out lovely! Also, special thanks to Nicola for inviting us all to come along and share the journey through your Scarlet Letter year. Every big-0 birthday should be this much fun!
Thanks for dropping by today for a visit. I'm so glad I could finally share this year-long secret with you. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Until next time,
The Inspired Stitcher
14 comments:
Wow, what a stunning surprise activity you participated in! What a treasure for Nicola! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Robin in Virginia
What a marvelous group project and gift. Nicola will treasure that for ever.
What a fun surprise for Nicola! The block you chose was perfect : )
Fantastic, Lisa! You made a lovely choice! It was fun to participate in this quilt, wasn't it?
What a lovely way to say thank you to Nicola! Your block is wonderful. I am sure the personalized gift will be much appreciated.
What a heart felt gift to Nicola! I am going to look at both links. I love the whole idea and such a treasure for Nicola.
Love your block Lisa. Glad you were able to save the block:)
love Annette
Oh, I'll bet that quilt touched her heart more than we can ever know, Lisa! Your contribution is perfect and what a creative way to "save" it. Oh that Shelby :)
I just watched Krista's video on the project and it is wonderful to see everyone's contributions up close and personal--great job by all of you :)
your contribution to the SL quilt is lovely Lisa. I'm sure Nicola was beyond thrilled. She looked it in the blog post. Cheers Mel
What a really nice project to do for Nicola! Congrats on a job well done!
What a great contribution to Nicola's quilt.
Gorgeous stitching progress!
What a wonderful and very special idea/gift!!! I am sure it is much appreciated and I'll definitely have to check out the video!!!
What a wonderful gift for Nicola. A lovely block you chose and your hornbook piece is coming along beautifully.
Your block was perfect, lucky you having such an easy choice to make!
The quilt is so beautiful in person, Elaine really did us all proud, she made the perfect showcase for all our stitching.
Beautiful square. I can't believe how different it looks without the background being stitched. Glad you were able to rescue it and not have to stitch over.
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