Blind Quilter

Blind Quilter Original Top

You know those jokes that starts with "A guy walks into a bar..."?  Well this will sound like one of those jokes, but it's no joke. A little old lady walked into the quilt shop the other day, and asked me if I could quilt the baby quilt she had made. "Of course." flies out my mouth without a second thought. "Oh, by the way, I'm legally blind" were the next words she said. Needless to say several thoughts flew through my mind; 'OH CRAP!' being the #1 thought.  Along with 'oh great, now what?' and 'you've got to be kidding me'.  I did give the quilt a good inspection, and finding several seams with holes, and a few sashings with cut holes in them.  I told her about the holes, and asked if she wanted to fix them or wanted me too.  She told me to go ahead and fix them, and didn't mind the extra charge. I didn't have the heart to tell her her quilt was a total mess and that I would have to basically take it completely apart to fix the holes.  I put her quilt in the back so I could think about how I was going to fix this mess.

After things settled down at the shop, I brought her quilt out and showed it to everyone. Gasps all around, and they all pitched in and started taking it apart. After I got a picture of the original of course.

Close up of one of the holes.

This is one of many holes that were in the piecing, not to mention several in the sashing fabric. We took all the borders off, and remove the long horizontal sashings too. Then I started inspecting each and every seam, and OH what a nightmare. When I first gave the top a quick look over once hearing she was basically blind. I found 9 holes without looking hard. Now with an up close and personal inspection I found holes in every seam. Some just needed finishing out the seam, others I had to rip out and sew them again. I even enlisted the help of my Hubby to remove threads from the ripped seams. God love him, because it only cost me lunch out and a piece of carrot cake for dessert. OK, actually we needed a break, and lunch was on me.

Repaired top.

After clipping, trimming, and resewing; the quilt top was stitched back together. I did try to square it up as best as possible, and while piecing it back together, I decide to keep the wonky sashings, which gave this top its own personality. Besides, it's the Blind Quilters work not mine. I just fixed the holes the best I could without altering her work as much as possible. However this did not transform it into a square, flat quilt top.



I was able to load it on the longarm and get it quilted, which presented its own challanges. The backing as to small for the original top with all the holes, but with all the cutting, trimming and resewing the top just fit the backing. So I decided to give it my best shot and hope for the best.

Completed top loaded on the longarm.

The backing was bigger by 2 inches width wise, but just fit top to bottom. So I loaded the quilt sideways, and went to work. She told to make it look good, so I quilted dog bones and loops. The bones for the dogs, and the loops to look like yarn for the cats.

Overall I am completely happy with the results of this adventure. At first I had my doubts about it, but the quilt has turned out great. I'm going to check into binding this top for her, because if the top turned out as bad as it did. I don't want to see what she would so with binding as this is a gift for her grandson. And I wanted him to be able to cherish this quilt for a very long time, I know I cherish the quilts I got from my grandmothers.

Close up of dog bone quilting.

So never give up quilting.  I hope that one day someone will take the time to rip, trim, and resew the horrifying tops I make, and never discourage me from making a masterpiece for someone to love.