Friday 14 June 2013

Finally finished ... with a day to go!!

Nothing like putting yourself under a bit of pressure! This was the final stitch going into the Snooker Table Quilt - 'Time for a Break' on Wednesday night:


Jackie's leaving do was yesterday! She retired from our organisation after 42 years exemplary service. She laid on a wonderful afternoon tea and cakes for us (I love cake!) and there were lots of colleagues past and present gathered to say goodbye and wish her well.

I've blogged quite a bit about the journey of making this quilt starting with this post in April (my birthday giveaway) when you had to guess what I was going to make out of this bundle of fabric:


There were some funny answers along the way! I am still amazed at how we quilters take a bunch of ingredients, mix them together and produce such loveliness ... aren't we lucky!?

There were some tricky moments too - I never did perfect my balls, which remained a little 'wonky':


Why work to a pattern when you don't have to?! I used a Google image as my inspiration and pretty much made it up as I went along. The corners took some planning and I did keep them square in the end. And just when I thought I had finished the top, Julie asked if I was going to add a 'stick'?! So I did :)

I sewed all the team's signed messages onto the back of the quilt:

And this is the finished front:


After the boss did his speech, they asked me to say a few words and and hand Jackie our gift:




Snooker is Jackie's passion - she gets so excited watching it on TV, she has never trusted herself to go and watch a live tournament! Her absolute hero is Steve Davis OBE (famous world snooker champion in the UK) and not only was he kind enough to autograph a patch (his got pride of place in the centre of the quilt), he also provided a signed photograph:


She was a very very very happy lady yesterday! I'm chuffed I helped put that big smile on her face:


Congratulations, dear Jackie, enjoy your retirement, we will miss you xx



Linking up to Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

12 comments:

  1. A lady has asked me to make a memory quilt out of her fathers shirts. He was a master billiards player and the first thing that popped in my head was a billiards table (since I don't have a lot of shirts to work with.) I had it in my head but couldn't get it on paper. Your quilt is perfect, mind if I use it as a inspiration?

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  2. It looks great -.and she seems so very pleased. That's fantastic!

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  3. What a lovely gift. I'm sure she will cherish it.

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  4. What a great idea..that's brilliant! You can tell she'll treasure it.

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  5. What a fabulous, personal gift. I love the extra touch of getting Steve Davis to sign a patch.

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  6. Oh my.... this turned out fabulous! She looks thrilled. Very nicely done!

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  7. What a beautiful story. She looks so happy, indeed. You are so talented and clever. This one should be in a magazine. Thank you for inspiring all of us.

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  8. Awww just a beautiful story and a beautiful quilt!

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  9. Jen, your finished snooker table quilt turned out fantastic - wonky balls and all (although I don't think they look wonky at all)!!! Jackie looks so thrilled with her quilt!! That's a great compliment to you and sometimes all the payment that is needed to make us happy as quilters.

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  10. Wonderful work! A really fabulous quilts story :-)

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  11. Thanks so much for sharing "the reveal". The quilt looks great! And from the look on Jackie's face, it was a big hit! So much better than the usual retirement gifts!

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  12. I am slowly catching up with blog reading. (vacation)
    I love the look on her face! That says it all. What a terrific quilt!! On to the next great project!

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I love reading all your comments, I know it takes time to write them but they make me smile so thank you for dropping by :)