Best package ever.

Whoever decided that internet friends are somehow not as good as other friends clearly didn't have as wonderful a bunch of internet friends as I do! I met my friend Christine, who blogs about her sewing over at OakRoseMama, through the La Leche League Mother-to-Mother Forum, a wonderful online resource for breastfeeding moms. Christine lives in rural Texas, where she's raising her daughter Elena, who is almost exactly a year younger than Joe. Besides breastfeeding our kids, we have a ton in common. We both love to sew, we both love all things vintage (especially Depression-era vintage), we both studied anthropology (Christine is getting her PhD in archeology!), and we both love dogs and gardening. I haven't (yet) met Christine in person but she's as "real life" a friend as anyone could hope to have.

She's also an incredibly generous and giving person. I already knew this about her, but I was reminded when I got a big box in the mail last week!

In addition to a pile of pretty fabrics, which I'm sure will be showing up made into clothing on this blog soon, Christine sent me a pretty little dress for my little girl on the way. She knows I love white collars and details on dresses - it's so old-fashioned and lovely.

And a bonnet that she made from embroidered linens. Isn't it just darling? I can't wait to see it on my baby girl.

And, oh my goodness, you guys! She made my little baby a quilt using a vintage quilt top!!

As she writes in her card, "I rescued an old feedsack quilt labeled a 'cutter.' It was the size of a king bed comforter. Sadly only a baby quilt sized area could be saved." So she picked the quilt apart, retaining part of the quilt top, including some of the border (the red print). Then she sandwiched it with new batting and a new backing, and then - here's the really crazy awesome part - she and her mother-in-law hand quilted it.

(Christine reports that she hand quilted it while watching Downton Abbey, which officially makes her Downton Abbey addiction a million times more productive than mine. The only multitasking I do in front of the television these days is eating.)

I know. My cup runneth over.

The pattern is basically a giant version of Grandmother's Garden - really big hexagon flowers. I love it. It's somehow both darling and surprisingly modern (as vintage quilts often are). 

Check out these gorgeous feedsack fabrics. Stunning.

The printed plaids are darling, and I love that they are cut on-grain, but set off-grain in the quilt.

If you look very carefully at the shot below, you can see where Christine's mother-in-law skillfully darned a hole in the original quilt top. I didn't know anyone knew how to darn anymore! This woman has mad skills.

And here's a shot of the binding and back. I love Christine's choice of fabrics here - they complement the vintage feedsacks and fit right in, despite probably being 75 years newer.

Wow. It's so beautiful. I'm just blown away. I promise to take good care of it, Christine!

Go check out Christine's blog! It's a good 'un.