Shopping for a quilter takes real strategy. She already owns the good scissors, her stash is spoken for, and nobody else is allowed to touch the fat quarters. Quilting Life Gifts is where we send everyone who asks us what to get her: the whole Quilt Hair Don't Care flock of wild-crested birds, Penny our penguin in her busiest moods, and a handful of word designs that say what quilters are already thinking. The fun part is matching the art to the person.
For the one who is always mid-project
Snipsy Wren is a little turquoise bird crowned in rainbow curls, standing over a cutting mat with a rotary cutter and scissors at the ready. Ziggy Bobbin flings both wings wide beside a sewing machine, crest shooting out in every color, and Chaos Finch squawks with delight next to a tall stack of finished quilts. Add Penny the Seam Ripper Warrior, or Penny's Got a Plan (Don't Interrupt) with her arms crossed at the design wall, for the friend who answers every call with Sorry, I'm Busy Quilting. That one lives here too, in swooping rainbow script trailed by a needle and thread.
For the one who has earned her evenings
Velma Nightwing is a round purple bird with a wild purple and lavender plume, a glass of red on one side and a sewing machine on the other. Cats, Quilts and Cabernet stretches a white cat across a teal sewing machine beside a glass of wine, under a sky pieced from quilt blocks. Penny's Wine and Whipstitch Night and Quilting on Vacation belong to the same happy crowd, and so does I'm Retired, Quilting Is My Job, in rosy script with a little heart.
For the one who collects fabric like treasure
Puffin Bea peers out from a tangle of thread-like curls beside a neat stack of folded fabric. Lady Plumeadora, a peacock whose teal crest has gone completely wild, fans her tail next to a heap of blue and green yardage. Pip Patchlet balances on a branch with a pink and green patchwork quilt hung over it to air, and Noodle Beakman, a long-necked orange bird with a startled red crest, keeps watch over a fabric stack from a leafy perch. Fabric Addict spells out the confession in rainbow letters between two spools, with Quilt-A-Holic and Quilters Gonna Quilt close behind.
When you still cannot decide
Some quilters are a little of everything. For her there is Curlene Spoolworth, a rainbow bird with a spiky crest on a branch hung with spools like ornaments, or Peaches Plume, a pink bird hugging a quilt block to her chest, or Frizzle Mae, round and blue and gasping at a pile of scraps. Or tuck the Chic Quilter gift card, tied with a big magenta bow, into her sewing basket and let her choose her own bird. Then watch the mailbox for a thank-you note with a scrap of fabric pinned to it.
Written by Judy. Thanks for reading.
