The store I worked at was closing, and there
were some great deals on fabric. It was
a great time for me to take up quilting.
If I made a mistake, I wouldn’t be out a lot of cash. It is important to say that aside from an
outfit for school, I didn’t actually make any money during my days cutting
fabric and back-folding the calico wall.
My poor mother lost money on the deal, as well. She drove me to work on rainy days, and
picked me up at night so I wouldn’t have to walk home in the dark. Unfortunately, she would end up
shopping. I remember on more than one
occasion, she shopped for my entire evening shift.
As most of you quilters know, there are stages of
quilting. I don’t mean prewashing,
cutting, stitching, ironing, and actually quilting. I mean the emotional stages: Excitement, confusion, despair, resolve,
perseverance and success. Some of you
know exactly what I mean. Every “new”
quilt starts with that excitement stage, when I can not wait to get my hands on the new fabric. I cut away, cheerful and singing, stitching
and ironing, clipping and sorting.
Eventually, I run into an issue.
It’s important to mention this issue is usually encountered late at
night, when my eyes are having trouble staying open, and I’ve misunderstood
something. I should know that it is time
to get some rest, and try again in the morning, but sometimes the excitement
hasn’t waned completely and I want to push ahead. Then despair sets in, when I’ve realized I have made a mistake, and should have
stopped when the confusion set in. I
call it a night, possibly avoiding the project the next morning, and eventually
move to the resolve stage, in which I’ve found a resolution to my issue. I drudge through whatever seam ripping or
re-cutting that needs to occur, and then it happens. Sweet Success. There is nothing sweeter than that moment I
finish that last stitch. I run my hands
over the designs. I run my fingers along
the binding. Each new pattern brings a
new skill. I am working on a few new
patterns here that I am hoping to try out in all this free time I have with the
kids in school. Those of you that know
me KNOW I would have used a sarcastic font for that last line. I’ve had less free time since they’ve started
school than I did when they were home with me all summer.
Where is the tip in all of this? Have you ever sat down with a Veteran from
any war? I mean really sat down and talked to someone who has served their country
or fought for something they love? I run
into Veterans from time to time, and I try to make the time to hear their
story. I see something lost in their
eyes when we say our hellos, and somehow they come alive when they start
reminiscing about what it was like to be a young soldier. They talk about their first love, or their
first deployment. They say they don’t
want to bore me, as I’m sure their kids and grandkids are tired of hearing the
memories. I listen. I hear.
I wonder how these men and women survived some of the situations they
endured. I hear the pride in their
voices, and see the sparkles in their eyes, and the glow that gleams of their
face as they tell their tale. Good or
bad, their experience shaped them, and made them the people they are today. I’m happy they want to share their story with
me, and so happy to listen.
Talk to a quilter, and they spin a similar yarn. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, please
don’t take it that way. But imagine a
conversation I had with a fellow quilter about putting together a Lone Star
quilt. I had shared a picture of a
“Starburst” quilt that I had made in 1994.
She insisted it was not a Lone Star quilt because of the color
placement, and I agree, to a certain extent.
She asked me why I chose such a difficult pattern for my first
quilt. I explained that I knew I would
be spending a lot of time with the quilt, and wanted something I would like for
a long time. I bought the fabric for
twenty-five cents a yard. That’s
right. Twenty-five cents a yard. I
was new to quilting, and was learning a technique that was new to the industry
called “Strip Quilting”. Armed with a
rotary cutter, mat and pattern, I set out to assemble the quilt. The woman and I talked and talked about color
choices. She spent months gathering her
fabric for hers, I spent ten minutes.
She cut diamond after diamond, carefully piecing each one. I cut strips, sewed strips, cut more strips,
sewing more strips, and so on. She
shared her tips of the trade for quilting her masterpiece, and laughed at my
batting choice for that first quilt. It
was nice to talk to this quilting veteran.
Where was she when I was working on this quilt? It would have been nice to have some input.
Every project gives us a new experience. Every stitch we rip out and re-stitch is a
new lesson. I encourage you to take
classes, talk to people you know, join a quilting guild, and enjoy your time
creating. What’s my tip this week? Jump into the deep end and start the project
that you adore but are afraid of. Buy
that fabric you love when you see it, and tuck it away for later. You know what you like; you’ll find the right
pattern for it some day. Don’t be afraid
to admit you don’t know what you are doing, and don’t lie about what you can
do.
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