I send boxes to be shipped to my friend, Trish, every year. Most of the items are for distribution to the local Honduran families to which they minister. I’ve made and sent quilts before as their homes don’t have heat and many nights can be down in the 50’s! I don’t want to sleep that cold and not have a quilt or blanket so they are really needed. Mostly it is my time and I use fabric I already have. I have yet to make much dent in the fabric stash so I’m glad to make someone happy with a warm quilt.
I also send school supplies, kitchen items, and small gifts for the Christmas packages they make. I like supporting them because my funds and the gifts go to the people who need it most. And Trish & her family continue to minister, teach, and train the ones they help in the economically poor country. They don’t just drop a gift and never return but continue to make sure the family knows about God’s love and to make sure their physical needs are being met.
Last year they had some of their gifts stolen so I hope that quilt is keeping a young person warm and they feel God’s love from my work.
This year, I made a quilt in colors for Trish’s room as she’d been talking about them moving houses to allow for their son and growing family to move into their bigger home. I thought a new quilt would be nice for her new room. This kept me so busy the month of January to try to get it done as a few customer quilts had started to come during my weeks of vacation. (Stay-cation, of course, but I was trying to quilt for me.)
Loaded on the frame. I forget the exact dimensions w/o looking up the notes but I think it was 96″ square.
Each star triangle got about the same but freehand quilting motif.
It was a last minute piecing idea to put piping in between the borders. It wasn’t a smart idea either! Besides being tedious, now my triangle points were all cut off! Argh!!
And my triangles didn’t fit my corners properly. I decided it didn’t matter in the overall look of the quilt and I wouldn’t mind it if it was my quilt!
I pieced the backing from leftover fabrics from the front and I had clearly cut way too many triangles for the borders! 
It is easier to show the quilting from the back sometimes.
So as not to be removed, I incorporated my label into the back of the quilt! I appliqued her initial and then wrote my words on the lighter fabric along her “T”. I added narrow fabric strips along the bottom of the label area on a 45′ angle while I pieced the backing. I found it fun to decorate the back as I had done on the Pencil Quilt last fall.
In one of the borders, I also backwards quilted a special message to Trish that I was going to tell her about when she received the quilt. I’ve not heard from her or if the quilt made it safely to her or not. 
It sort of makes me sad but I know that she is very, very giving and could have given it to someone who needed it instead of keeping it for herself. (Hence, the label that can’t be removed.) I also know it isn’t possible to run such a ministry they do on their own and send notes to everyone that sends boxes for them. I loved making this and would love to make a giant star quilt for myself sometime and add all the heavy freehand quilting. It was a lot of fun!
and sew on... 