Funky Fish for Project Linus

Here's my most recent quilt made from Sindy Rodenmayer's patterns. I'll be donating it to Project Linus in memory of Jan Jackson, a quilting buddy from the Quilting Passion Forum.

The two turquoise fabrics have an interesting story. In 2002 the public relations guy at the university where I worked asked me if he could do a little story and picture in the employee newsletter about the PL quilts I was making and donating. After publishing it there, he decided to send it as a news release to the local community journal paper. They published it on the front page.

A retiring fabric salesman (who represented the Alexander Henry line) saw the article and called the university, asking for me. He offered me his sample books! These are pretty good-sized pieces of fabric, showing all the colorways. When I tore apart all of the sample books, I had a pile of fabric pieces about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide!

About half of these fabrics were inappropriate for children's quilts. Many were dark florals. I posted about my good fortune on the QP forum, and a woman from Hawaii answered, saying that she collected those dark florals! She owned a quilt fabric shop and offered me a trade for new fabric! What a deal! I packed up a huge box, which cost me over $50 to mail to Hawaii, and she let me choose an equivalent weight in fabric from her website. The two turquoise fabrics in the above quilt were part of that deal. Amazing!! I got fabrics I could use for Project Linus, as the salesman had intended. (An additional note: I got $25 of the postage by making a talk about PL to a civic group. They also gave me thread and fabric!) I have received so many blessings through Project Linus work.