Finishing a Quilt Started in 1988!

My customer, Mrs. Doris Gardner, came into my shop in May of 2025 with a question. Mrs. Gardner started this quilt, The Winner’s Circle, in 1988. Mrs. Gardner cut out all 715 pieces, but never sewed any of it together, she wanted to know if I could finish it for her?

I was absolutely honored to do this for my customer. It has taken several months, but it’s now complete, and I think she loves it. What do you think? Here are some pictures with a timeline of the progress of this masterpiece in work.

We laid out all of the pieces to get an idea of what the large block will look like. The directions were very vague and we only had an old black and white picture, on the pattern to go by. I Googled the pattern and was able to find a picture of the finished quilt. This pattern is still sold today; The Winners Circle makes a very dramatic finished quilt.

Seeing the blocks coming together was very satisfying.

Working on it at the KY State Fair in Aug 2025.

Making progress, slowly but surely.

The original envelope with the date postmark of September 15, 1988, this is when the pattern was received by Mrs. Gardner.

This has to be the largest quilt I’ve ever had on my frame It measures 110” wide, by 135” long. I guess the pattern allowed extra length for the pillows to be tucked into the quilt at the header. Either way there were no instructions on how many to put in every row, or how many rows to make. I tried it with 6 blocks across, but it didn’t work out. I could’ve probably kept a row out and it would've been closer to the size listed, but by the time I realized that, it was well on it’s way to being long armed on the machine.

I used this rose pantograph pattern to quilt it. I felt like it added dimension to all the open space.

Here is a picture of it all quilted! It took 4 full 8+ hour days to stitch out on the long arm. The rose pantograph was so detailed, plus with the size of this quilt, it took forever. Now I have to bind it, I’m going to make more than I normally would.

The rose pattern up close.

I think it look incredible and I can’t wait to share it with my customer!

Another close up of the rose and swirls.

I made extra binding, at least 2 yards full.

Custom Label for Mrs. Gardner.

Draped over the folding tables. This quilt measures 110” wide x 135” long.

Finally finished after 37 long years!

Mrs. Gardner was very happy, it was a dream to see this quilt finished.

A Perfect fit on it’s new home! Check out the little throw pillow, so cute!

Another angle.

A happy ending for a very special lady and her gorgeous quilt.