Lyn's Crazy Quilt Spirit of Friendship Doll, "Snow Princess" is the second Spirit of Friendship Doll I created this year for Christmas Presents. She is made from 3 different kinds of sparkling snow flake fabrics. I did beaded embroidery snowflakes in shades of white and silver. I also used three different kinds of embroidery floss, Renaissance Ultra Sprinkles, Kreinik Metallic in white and platinum and White Madeira Metallic. I also created her face from translucent Kato Polyclay and painted her face with Pearl Ex Powder Pigment in the color Pearl before baking. I think this is the most beads I have ever added to a doll especially around her face.
A bit of history about our Friendship. Lyn's and I met on the Australian Southern Cross Quilters Online Quilting list in October of 1996. As a new member I sent a message introducing my self and Lyn sent me a warm welcome and told me about herself and we discovered we had many things in common. That was the beginning of a wonderful 11 year friendship that has grown and grown.
I have always felt I missed out by not having someone to call a "Sister" and experiencing the special relationships I believed sisters had between each other. Well over the years Lyn has become "My Adopted Sis".
In the year 2000 I turned 50 years old and for a special gift Lyn traveled from Melbourne Australian to Virginia to help me celebrate my birthday. vbg We celebrated everyday for 3 months. When Lyn arrived in New York it started to snow. As Lyn walked from the jumbo jet to the smallish plane Lyn saw and felt "Snow Flakes" for the first time in her life. When Lyn arrived in Virginia she was dead tired from the very long trip and when we met she could not stop talking about the beautiful snow flakes she saw in New York. vbg The next day I showed Lyn piles of snow in our local parking lots and she was soooooooooooooo very excited. We through snowballs at each other and laughed and laughed. During the next 3 months we had the most wonderful time together.
WE went to three major quilt show. The first being the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, Va. the second being The Mountain Quilt Festival in Pigeon Forge Tenn. and the third being the Lancaster Quilt Show in Penn. We had endless adventures together during this time and we still chat and laugh about them. Soooooooooooo when we decided to exchange "Spirit of Friendship Dolls" I knew Lyn's had to be a "Snow Princess" !!! Lyn I am so happy you like your "Snow Princess"!!! Merry Christmas...
Recently the online group I belong to called CQI has been showing pictures of our First Crazy Quilt. I was a bit hesitant about sharing mine, so I called My Dear Cousin Linda and ask her for permission to show pictures of her Memory CQ and talk about the reason why I made it for her. She very kindly said, yes she would be happy for me to share her CQ on my blog. This CQ was created from the Silk Ties of Linda's deceased husband Patrick. On March 11th 2001 Linda's DH, youngest son Aaron 26yrs. and his two children, John 3yrs old and Sam 10 months old was taken in a tragic car accident. One day after this horrible event Linda was telling me that she was cleaning out Pat's clothes and she had all these ties she did not know what to do with. I told Linda to please send them to me and I would create a Memory Quilt from them. I looked at the ties for a few months trying to figure out how to best use them. I called Linda back and we talked some more about how I would use them in the quilt. Linda gave me some special dates which occurred during their 30 years marriage together and their favorite vacation place. After this conversation I knew how I would use them. I would make a crazy quilt and create each block to reflect stages of their life together. I also decided that the last block would be of "Hope and Happiness". The first picture is of Linda with her Memory Silk Tie Crazy Quilt. The first block reflects when Patrick was born, the second one is about when Linda and Patrick was married May 30th 1970. The 3rd block is about Patrick's business called Reliance Refrig. The 4th block reflects their favorite vacation spot, Banff in Alberta Canada. The 5th block is Linda's words to her loving family she lost. The 6th block is of "Hope and Happiness" for the future with with embroidery of flowers and butterflies. Linda and I have been very close Cousin and my wish was that this CQ would provide Linda with good memories of her marriage with Patrick and her family and would also provide her with "Hope and Happiness" for the future. I am very please to say that Linda has now been remarried for just about 2 yrs. to a wonderful man Phil who now gives Linda must Happiness. 
