Three of a Kind

Last September a customer came to me and asked me to do something that I absolutely hate doing. She wanted me to make three quilts for her grand-daughters for Christmas that were exactly the same. As a quilter I'm screaming "NO, NO, NO" and throwing the temper tantrum to beat

all temper tantrums in my head. As a business owner I was trying to find a diplomatic way to steer her in a different direction.

After many planning sessions the compromise we came up with was that the pattern and outside border would be the same, but the fabrics, while all batiks, would be vastly different. To say I was not thrilled to begin this project was an understatement. However, once I began, the quilts starting to take on a personality of their own. The fabrics that were originally picked for one of the girls actually looked so much like her cousin that we decided it just had to be her quilt.

I finally got excited about this project! Judy engaged in every aspect of the process from picking the colors and selecting the quilting patterns and threads, that she became a fixture in my studio for a couple of months. Her input made the quilts everything she hoped for and more. When the girls received the quilts on Christmas they were so excited! I was so relieved that children so young liked their gifts so much.