Some of you may have seen the mermaid quilt, “Enchanted Oro Bay”, when it was on display a few years ago or as the flyer image for my class, Free Motion Quilting. If you frequent The Sewing Machine Exchange, you have probably seen her hanging near the front of the store. I found the fabric and embellished her as a reminder of a magical vacation on Anderson Island, in Puget Sound–Oro Bay is near where we stayed. I was pleasantly surprised last week to receive an email from a gentleman saying he saw the mermaid quilt when he was dropping off his wife’s sewing machine for service and wondered if I was willing to sell it. A few emails later we arranged to meet at the store. He was waiting when I arrived, and pulled up a chair to tell me the story of how he and his granddaughter have a bond over mermaids. They had tipped over in the lake when she was little, and after her near drowning experience she exclaimed, “guess I’m not a mermaid!” It’s always wonderful to sell a piece of art and even more special to hear the story of why someone felt a connection to it. So the mermaid has completed her journey from Bali, where the fabric originated, to Washington state, to Maine.
