"A quilt is something human"
It’s all happening.
Dear Reader,
The whole notion of quilt making involves giving and sharing. It's a human activity that reflects friendship, love, home, and community. Metaphorically, a quilt is sentient; full of stories that begin with the piecing of fabric and continue throughout its life.
I've made many quilts that I have given as gifts throughout the years, starting with the baby quilts that I made for my now teenage children. Even though they have been long since outgrown, these quilts are still used as picnic blankets in the spring and summer. Their stories contained within the tattered fabric scraps that have been mended along the way now live on to create new stories.
Saying yes to my first quilt commission
Last summer I was asked to make a baby quilt. This was the first time I would be making a quilt for someone I didn't know and actually accepting compensation. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to say yes. My hesitation wasn't due to lack of confidence, although I knew that I had to brush up on some skills, but rather, the great responsibility that making a quilt carried, especially for a newborn baby. As a very sentimental person, the thought of this was almost overwhelming, but also humbling that someone would trust me with such a task. Then I was concerned about the fact that the customer might want something traditional, in which case I would have to say no, since my work is exclusively improvisational. I knew I had to act quickly, since there was a firm deadline for this project, the arrival of the baby in September. Still on the fence about my decision, I responded to my customer. When she told me that she liked my work and she was going to give me full creative freedom, I knew I had to say yes. Then, when she talked about how much she loved the Gees Bend Quilts, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. Her only criteria was that I use jewel-toned colors, and that I embroider her baby's initials somewhere on the quilt.
My Summer Quilting Journey
In order to keep this quilt within my customer's budget, it would have to be completely done by machine, so, before I even started this project, I knew I needed to buy a new sewing machine. As luck would have it, my husband found a 1940 Singer straight stitch machine on Marketplace for $40. The machine was owned by a sewing machine mechanic, and it was in pristine condition. A simple, perfect, powerful machine, which I promptly named Catherine, after my grandmother. The learning curve on the sewing machine was virtually non-existent, and as soon as I assembled my materials I was off and running. I lived with this quilt all summer long. Watching movies as I assembled, pieced, and ironed, and the quilt grew. Side note: most notable of all of the movies I watched was Three Women.
Amidst all of the joy I feel from piecing together scraps, I knew I was almost finished, and ready to move on to the part of the quilt making process that I dread more than anything. . . the sandwich. Since I was ahead of schedule for the quilt's completion, I spent some time dreading moving on to this next step. Finally though, I psyched myself up and did it, nervously sweating my way through the whole process. Since binding is my second favorite part of quilt making, I quickly moved on to that, and put the finishing touches on the quilt, including the embroidery in a couple of days. I'm happy to say, that the parents loved the quilt, telling me that it "more than met their expectations."
Quilts connect the past and the future. They bring people together. They're living, breathing history.
XO,
Christa
Thanks for reading-I’m glad you’re here.