Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Baby (quilt) Abandoned on Doorstep

Eleanor had been home all day and hadn’t noticed anyone coming or going but when she went outside she discovered a shoebox outside her door. Inside she found the makings of a baby quilt – our “It’s a Mystery, Baby” preemie quilt mystery from 2010.

I was called in to consult on the case. I picked up the box and my friend Donna and I spread out the contents – there was all the fabric including flannel for the backing, the fabric placement page with samples attached, strips already cut, a few 4-patches made, even the receipt from the fabric store at which the items were purchased.

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We went into detective mode. We studied the list of guild members for the appropriate year narrowing in on a couple of possible suspects, but both have denied any knowledge of the affair. Clues:

  1. The shoebox has a picture and the size of the quilter’s shoes.
  2. We know where the quilter shopped – and we even have her store membership number!
  3. From the markings on the box it is possible that she might have had a child graduating from high school in the past few years.
  4. She has good taste in fabric!

I left the box with Donna. It turned up at my door a few days later. This time it contained a completed quilt top and the backing fabric prepared for quilting.

I did some quilting on my longarm then found an opportunity to drop off the box at Donna’s door.

It showed up at my door again one day when I returned home from shopping – there had been enough fabric to make a second top, this one a Disappearing Nine-Patch.

More quilting. Back it went to Donna.

When it arrived here the other day it was bulging and tape had been used to hold it shut.

 

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Inside were the two preemie quilts, complete with binding.

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There was also  a “memory quilt” made from the last scraps (these small quilts are given by the hospital to mothers whose babies do not survive).

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad result from one box. But now we are obsessed with studying people’s feet looking for that elusive pair of size 8 ½ Dr. Scholl’s!

 

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2 comments:

Ellen said...

Cute post!

Brenda said...

great story and wonderful quilts, all wrapped up in one shoebox!