Quilts come home

This quilt came back this weekend.  It's one of the first quilts I made, back when I hand quilted everything.  Its history goes back to the very beginning of my quilting journey.  

In subsequent years, I made my Mom a quilt and Rob's Mom a quilt.  They had big stitch quilting before big stitch quilting was cool, not because I planned it, but because that's all I knew.  Rob's Mom is very hot natured, so her quilt needed to be very light weight and I believe the batting in this one is actually a piece of white flannel instead of a traditional quilt bat.  

Roughly 28 years ago, a friend's roommate bugged out, owing him rent and he left his stuff behind as his only way to pay.  Part of that was a small fabric stash, some quilting books, and a sewing machine.  My friend (actually they were both my friends and the one that bugged out was one of the most attractive people I ever met and we all benefitted by being near him when we were out, and we all drooled over him all the time) said I could have part of the stash if I would teach him how to use the sewing machine.  I did and we spent a wonderful New Year's Day together talking about sewing and I walked away with two quilt books and some fabrics to start a couple of quilts.  One of the patterns was a flower appliqué pattern that basically made up into this quilt.  I even got a couple of envelopes with flower pieces already traced and cut and ready to appliqué.

The thing I didn't like about the pattern was that there were only four or five flowers provided and you were supposed to repeat them in different colors.  You can guess what happened next, because you know I can almost never follow a pattern exactly.  I started drawing flowers out of the yard.  The daylily, rose, ivy, and sunflower are definitely ones I added.  Not sure about some of the others.  I improvised and it worked and I'm relatively proud of this early quilt.  

This little block also came back.  Somewhere, there are 12 more basket blocks that all use the same basic basket pattern but have a monthly theme.  Not sure if they're in a box in my stash closet or if they ever got finished into a quilt.  I ended up with two of these in different colors.  I think they were maybe the January block because it's not very Christmassy and I think the December block was.  There's not much quilting, just some outline work and a cute border and binding.  Very simple.  Not every quilt has to be a queen sized art project, right?

The main thing I've learned from this election cycle is to never give the Democratic Party my phone number or email address.  Damn, but that shit is basically harrassment.  I think that sentiment is probably something I share with people from the other party as well.  I'm sure they're being worked just as hard.  But, it will all be over soon.  I'm not reading any more polls.  Done with that.  The press should just say "nobody knows" and save the time for real news, like how Cubans are suffering without electricity.  Or what's happening with rebuilding efforts in Florida.  Real news about real people.  I'm currently stuck between being appalled at the racism, misogyny, and bigotry and being disappointed that people I love are so caught up in the racism, misogyny, and bigotry.  It's a hard line to walk.  

I voted last Friday.  I got there about 11:30 and it took about 80 minutes.  I had no idea what to expect in line.  As I stood there, a couple that was maybe a few years older than me walked up behind me.  The man was a very large mountain of a man.  I had to look up...way up...to see his face and he had a booming voice.  And, we had the best time waiting in line.  We laughed and joked and talked about old Austin and engaged with other people in line, told stories about all the places we'd voted in the past and how this church was the nicest, but we wished we'd brought chairs for the wait (he said that was silly, but his wife and I thought it was a brilliant idea).  He and I finished voting first and I saw him waiting in a seat for his wife and I walked up.  I didn't introduce myself.  But, I shook his hand and told him it had been a pleasure waiting in line with he and his wife and he said the same.  Because civility is NOT dead.  It's just hiding from fascists and false christians and they can't seem to find it.  

Everybody have a great week!  Make your voting plan if you haven't already.  I hope you have a good experience and goodness, but I hope you don't have to wait in line for an hour like I did.  In a civilized world, it should be more convenient to vote, which would encourage greater voter participation...oh, yeah, now I remember why the Rs don't want online voting.  

Lane