The Quilt

And with that, in fact, none of the women I know of ever quilted in our family, other than Grandmother Maxwell. Not only did she quilt, but made homemade candies every Easter, some shaped bunnies, others birds, and in all assorted flavored chocolates. In the kitchen she was a master at all things southern, and now that I think about it, both grandmothers were. Every new project I start seems to be inspired by a story or memory from either grandparents or my mom. In general, I grew up surrounded by crafty, cooking, creative women. Both of my older sisters bring it with everything they do....they're so awesome. But, none of us girls know how to quilt...someone has to pick up this life-long rite of passage and be able to pass it down. One of us has to learn how to quilt! So, a few weeks ago, I took my first lesson. Albeit I learned the hard way, I learned! After missing the intro and arriving a tad bit late, I thought, "well I get it, how hard can it be, just point me in the right direction." And graciously my friend who was hosting, did just that, and assumed I was as savvy about the whole thing as I pretended to be...because of course I'm an artist. The trick to piecing together your fabrics is to place them in rows, looong rows at 5" across and several feet down. Well, I admit, all I heard was 5", rows, and I knew quilts were pieced by squares..at least 1,000 years ago!! So instead of cutting long strips, I spent a half hour cutting squares. Finally another quilt"y" friend came by to check on me (not that I needed it-ha!) and said "oh my are you cutting all those as squares?" So, I did, and ended up rushing to the sewing machine with the few long strips I did cut...and pieced them together. Nevermind I did that wrong the first time too! I love the challenge, so quilt, from one to the other, bring it on! My goal is to finish this quilt by Christmas! Here a look at the pile-o-fabrics.