What's All This About Then?

Last May, a new Manager was placed in our department.  She came from another department and the staff did not know her - didn't know what to expect.  Some were a little leery.   Well, to our delight, she turned out to be warm, sunny, energetic and full of great ideas about how to improve the services we offer and the way we offer them.

At Christmas, she arranged for fun, office appropriate (read: taking only 5 minutes) activities, which we all enjoyed and appreciated.  One of my co-workers came to me and said "We have to do something for the boss!"  I suggested she talk to some others and see what they thought.  The next day, a small group came to me and said "We think we should make her a quilt!"

I reacted with a gape!  None of them know how to sew.  Out of 30 women in our office (no men), there are only two of us that sew.  They had no idea what kind of undertaking that would be.   I'm a very slow quilter, and their idea was that they would put this together during the 3 weeks this month when the boss would be on vacation.  Not happening ladies!

They came back with Plan B, and it's a plan I could work with.  We would cover a canvas with fabric, then fuse on squares of fabric with notes and signatures from staff.

I took a look through my stash, and - what a surprise! - I had some fabric that would be perfect for the signature squares.

(The light wasn't great when I took these - they are actually brighter than they appear.)  I fused paper backed fusible on the back, which makes for a better writing surface, and got to use my wavy rotary blade for the first time!

I also had some fabric which is perfect for the background.

I took it all to work yesterday, and the organizers loved it.  I had envisioned the squares laid out in neat rows, but they took them and placed them at different angles, overlapping in places, and it looked great!  Monday, we start getting staff to sign the fabric squares, and a quick touch with the iron, and we should have a fun piece of wall art to show our appreciation (and belated welcome) for a great Manager.