Guest Blogger: Rachel Hayes

Please join me in welcoming today’s guest blogger Rachel Hayes as she shares her quilting journey and some photos of her gorgeous quilts.

Hi Michele,

I would love to be one of your guest bloggers! I would like to share my quilting journey. I began quilting in April 2007, and I suppose my claim to fame is that I have made over 100 quilts since I began a little over four years ago, all while working a full time job.

Of course, not all of them are bed quilts, but over half of those are bed size and lap size. I am a “finisher” and don’t like starting a new project until I finish what I am working on. I did begin a cathedral window, to try to break my obsessive “finishing” habit! I am calling that one my 10-year project.

One of the rewarding things about quilting, is knowing that most likely your quilt will outlive you. For that reason, I use digital prints, inkjet printer, and printable fabric to make labels with pictures, and information about the quilt, who it is to, when and where it was made.

Recently, I’ve been obsessed with making quilts from fabrics otherwise considered throw aways, or you could say I’ve been quilting green. One of my favorite quilters is Bonnie Hunter and I learned from her how to cut up old, worn-out, or cast-off shirts into useable fabric for quilts. I’ve made two quilts from my son’s shirts.

And four more shirt fabric quilts as gifts and charity quilts. One was a retirement gift for a co-worker, and I managed to sneak fabric from some of his own shirts into the mix unbeknownst to him, until he laid eyes on the quilt!

However, the most rewarding project I’ve done so far is to make a quilt out of doggie scarves that belonged to dogs of a dear grandmother who passed away. The family had to give away her dogs after her death. The quilt was made for the cherished granddaughter who loved and missed her “Mimi” and Mimi’s dogs very much.

I still tear up when I think of her reaction when she saw the quilt. I want my quilts to bring happiness or comfort to others. I have started a type of widow’s ministry within my church, where I offer to make a quilt from her beloved’s shirts. I’ve found that most times, it isn’t easy to part with a lost loved one’s shirts. However, I found in the doggie scarf quilt, it brings comfort to have something you can touch and wrap up in, that belonged to someone you loved. I hope to expand this ministry to bring comfort to women who lose their husbands.

So, in the mean time, I am obsessively creating new quilts for weddings, new babies, retirements, birthdays, and other occasions. There is always an occasion for a quilt.

Thanks for having me as a guest blogger!

Rachel Hayes