Quilts

I have made 4 quilts in my life. The first one was in a high school Home Ec class. I don’t remember much about it except that it had about 6 huge strawberry appliqués. That’s probably why I’ve forgotten.

The second one was made for Eric in a “Quilt in a Day” class that I took with Yvonne. Thankfully, she finished hers before the day was over and helped me to complete mine. It is a log cabin design, with beautiful, warm autumn colours and it has been on his bed for about 10 years. I am very proud of this one and he likes it too.

About eight years ago I started my third quilt, for Kristen. I have not yet gotten around to finishing it yet. It is mostly pinks and greens in a nine-patch pattern, and would have really looked good in her room a few years ago. Today her room is orange and green. Sigh. I DO intend to finish it this winter.

The fourth quilt I made is not really a quilt but more like a wall-hanging. As far as quilts go, it will never win any contests. A couple of years ago Michele, Heather and I were part of a Service Planning team at our church. We were doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-11) and we wanted to find a visual way of reinforcing some of the truths of this passage. We came up with what I think was a great idea. We would give everyone at church a small square of fabric to decorate and then we would assemble all of these squares into a larger wall hanging.

This was one fun project! The children were thrilled and excited about drawing something on fabric and many of them created several squares. Some of the women required a bit of coaxing but eventually did at least one. And the men, well, we had to chase some of them down and insist that they create something. But create they did and we were left with dozens of interesting pictures and drawings.

The three of us spent a good day in Heather’s basement piecing and sewing. We went through Heather’s stash and found fabric that we could use to hold it all together. Heather’s mom was there and besides watching Maddie (who was not yet a year old) and Julie, made us a wonderful lunch of farmer sausages and perogies.

As far as wall hangings/quilts go, this one will never win an award. If I sold it at a garage sale, you’d likely pass it by. But, I am having trouble giving this one up. I have de-cluttered at home and a few weeks ago we did a very successful culling at the church. I knew this piece had to go but unlike most of the other stuff, I could not bring myself to throw it into the bin. I think I know why though. It’s the memories and what this piece represents that makes it so hard for me to part with it. I still see in my mind’s eye men, women, teens and children hunched over a tiny squares of fabric creating something unique. I remember when we first displayed it and seeing all of the “blessed” verses. I remember hanging out at Heathers and eating my first Mennonite lunch made by a real Mennonite mom. I remember talking about life, love and loss. Most of all, I remember the pride I felt being part of a team that had such a good idea.

It’s been in my car for the last 2 weeks. We took a picture of it yesterday and I hoped that I would be able to dispose of it after that but alas, it is now folded up on my dining room table and I think I’ll bring it upstairs and put it into my closet later. Maybe one day I’ll be able to give it up but not yet. Maybe we'll need to pass it around until we're all sick of it. I'll take it for the next few months, Michele can have it after me and then it'll be Heather's turn.