Christmas cheer: A homeless quilt and an elderly homeless lady find each other

I started making these batik 9 patches a couple of years ago. I finally sewed them into strips but didn't like how it looked.

So, out came the seam ripper and back to the drawing board to figure out what to do with them. Gosh, so many wonderful things to do with nine patches. You can't tell from the picture, but they all have the same neutral blocks - a golden dimples. Mixing dimples with batiks proved to be challenge for me to find a setting that I liked.

I finally decided on a pattern called Paris Flea Market Find by It's So Emma. Here is a link to the pattern: Paris Flea Market Find quilt . I adjusted the pattern and made a full bed size quilt.
And, here is the finished quilt.

I think I ruined the quilt by using tea dyed for the sashing between the stars. It was too dark and harsh with all the batiks. Since I was not real happy with the end results, I decided this was a good opportunity for me to practice free motion quilting. I am comfortable with using pantographs, but not doing free motion. I learned a lot from this experience so it was not wasted time. One thing I learned is that I need to stitch in the ditch around the blocks before free motion quilting the blocks. I was in a hurry to finish, so I skipped this step and the finished quilt lacks a nice clean finished look. Lesson learned. Here is a close up of the quilting.

Soon after I finished the quilt my daughter told me a story about an elderly homeless woman that hangs out by her workplace. Each morning the homeless lady would great my daughter with a smile and say good morning. One day the homeless lady was crying. Someone had stolen her cart with all of her belongings. She was devastated. She has never asked for anything in all the years my daughter has seen her. This touched my heart and I decided then that I would give this quilt to the homeless lady. It was meant to be. I had just finished this UFO quilt that wasn't made for anyone in particular. I have never made a quilt that wasn't intended for someone, so I knew this quilt was meant to go to her. A homeless quilt for a homeless lady. I quickly crocheted up a scarf and beanie and found a pretty plastic tote bag for the goodies. I packaged them up for her and sent them off with my daughter to deliver them. For three days my daughter didn't see her. It was raining, so we guessed she was somewhere protected from the weather. When the rain finally quilt she appeared again and my daughter presented her with the gifts. Here she is holding her bag. You can see how happy she is! She was so surprised and excited!

The homeless quilt now has a loving home and hopefully helps to keep its homeless owner warm. I know it warmed my heart to see her beautiful smile.