A Sample of Mom's Love: The Surprise Quilt

By Linda


When my daughter, Brandi said she was getting married in about six months, I decided to make a sampler quilt as a surprise for her bridal shower. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to keep it a secret since Brandi still lived at home.
Every time Brandi went to work or out with Dee, I would get out my quilt patterns and material and try to get as many squares cut out as possible. I knew if I could get all the squares ready to sew, then I could sew them later.
My husband Ronnie and my other daughter Vanessa were my “partners in crime”, so to speak. They were very good at helping me get the squares out of the house if I wanted to work on it when we were going someplace. I spent a lot of time sewing in the car.
When Brandi came home one night earlier than we expected, she almost found out about the quilt. I was working on her quilt in the living room and we heard a car pull into the driveway. Vanessa screamed, “Mom, Brandi’s home!!” I grabbed the part I was working on and ran to the bedroom, but in my hurry I forgot the other squares.
Vanessa picked them up and came running to the bedroom too.
By the time Brandi got in the house, we had hidden the quilt under the covers and were sitting in the bedroom laughing. She wanted to know, “ What are you doing? It sounded like a bunch of horses were running through the house.” I told her Vanessa was chasing me, but I didn’t tell her why.
Brandi loved the surprise quilt and couldn’t believe we had managed to keep it a secret from her.




I used thirty different patterns for the sampler quilt. On the gift card to Brandi and Dee, I wrote, “Just a sample of Mom’s love.”

The patterns I used (left to right):
Row 1: Weathervane, Constellation, Key West Beauty, Spools, Wild Goose Flight
Row 2: Montgomery, Grape Basket, Pinwheel, Queen Charlotte’s Crown, Rail Fence
Row 3: Watermill, Double Tulip, Saw-toothed Star, Wishing Ring, Four Crowns
Row 4: Tail of Benjamin’s Kite, Star of North Carolina, Card Tricks, Monkey Wrench,
54-40 or Fight
Row 5: Rambler, Ohio Star, Crown of Thorns, Jacob’s Ladder, Shoo Fly
Row 6: Prairie Queen, Drunkard’s Path, Friendship Star, Mosaic, Bow Tie