WITH THANKS COMES GIVING.....

We recieved an email from a sweet lady named Cindy Manchester from Amarillo, Texas. This is Cindy with her husband of 28 years.

She sent us several pictures of quilts she had made with our patterns, and then a lovely story of quilting and giving. I am going to do my best to cut and paste the pictures and stories together. We were very touched and we hope you will read to the end. We know you will be touched and inspired also. So in Cindy's words:

Funny story about me, actually! My Granny May, my original quilting partner, and I spent good time together, quilting, sewing, I watched her piece many quilts for others, she taught me how. We both ended up with the same "disease" some would say....we give all our quilts away, spread the love to others. I would make quilts for her, so she would have some. My dear quilting partner died at the age of 97, 14yrs ago, and I gave up quilting. Was very hard, it made me miss her so much. Then about a year ago, a friend from church asked me if I knew how to sew, and that she and her mom were joining a 5.00 block of the month quilt, and asked me to join, I thought, HOW FUN!, so I joined. The funny part is....I went to the quilt shop, signed up, got my first block, and the lady asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get my supplies? Well, I calmly asked her "I have scissors, thread and needle, what else could I possibly need?" haha! Well, needless to say, the lady at the quilt shop still tells that story on me, because even after spending $125.00 on supplies with her that day...I'm still buying "supplies". haha. Quilting has definitely changed, and at first i was almost ashamed to be doing everything by machine, but you know....I'm able to get so much more done, and I actually think Granny May would be proud of me. I still miss her but these quilts bring me a nice warm feeling about her all over again.

This is your JUST LET IT BE pattern, we re-named to Madi's "day at the beach", with the sand color tans, blue and cream for the sky.

Madi's "day at the beach" was my first quilt in 14 yrs., and of course for my daughter. She spent days, and numerous trips to different quilt shops selecting this fabric, and actually, the photo does not do it justice. It is absolutely beautiful. It is quilted with stipple, and has now been washed and dried and is so warm and comforting.

Both of the LADY MADONNA'S are beautful. The one that is exactly like your pattern is a huge surprise for a lifelong friend, she has no idea it is for her, and she has only seen it on facebook, and commented on how much she loves it. I will rename it for her, "Connie's Sunrise". She lives on a lake and the sunrises are beautiful, bright, and happy.

The other Lady Madonna is for my son's long time girlfriend. I love how the jewel tone batiks turned out. My daughter picked out the flower fabric, I thought the bright center was good. I am thinking about a name for it, quite the opposite of Connie's, as this darker quilt actually looks like alot of the Texas sunsets we get the purples and darker hues, so it may end up "Shanda's Sunset" or something like that, who knows?

This is A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND. At first I was disappointed in my color selection, but I added the darker border, and now I LOVE it, I love how it pulls out the darker diamonds. This quilt is for a very close friend, here local, and she also has no idea this is hers, I will just mail it to her :-) !! Her favorite thing in the world is to snuggle up with her black weiner dog named Lucy, and I know Lucy will have free reign of this quilt, which I want her to, sooo, I have named this quilt "Lucy's Diamonds", a familiar catch, Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

I have three kids and one husband! They all have their own quilts by mom. My boys aged 20 and 24 have been exceptionally excited about getting a quilt from mom. That makes me happy. I made my oldest son a quilt called "Ryan's Flags", predominantly green with triangle flags. He was also funny about it, when I made it he lived in Hawaii, and I only wanted to know his favorite color, which was green. When he moved to New York City he stopped by here in Texas, and I gave him his quilt. He was amazed, as he thought I was going to make him something for guys, like ducks!! haha! He was quite happy there were no ducks! My youngest son chose his colors and he and I designed it, and it is being quilted right now. Very colorful Asian touch, and I call it "Cameron's Kaleidoscope" and he is very anxious to get it back, and ready to use it.


I made my husband one, very plain, blue and green blocks with sashing, and he loves it as well. I think I have found something that everyone does love to have, a homemade quilt from someone that loves them. I have found much satisfaction with quilting again, and Im so happy I'm back at it.


Thank you so much Cindy for sharing your beautiful stories. You have touched our hearts and remind us what quilting is all about, LOVE.

To see the patterns Cindy used, go to http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/

Have a great week, Janice and Marcea