This week has been a crazy one. I knew I needed to get the blocks done for the quilt the group is working on. But the day after I get the fabric for framing the picture blocks, I was sick. I was in bed sick for 2 days. There was no working on the quilt only sleeping and being sick. I had finally caught the bug that has been going around work for 2 months.
So now we are 3 days into the week and I haven't worked on the blocks at all. I then worked 2 ten hour days, which means I didn't work on the quilt. Well I did start to work on the blocks but after sewing a strip onto a picture block twice with the needle not threaded, I decided I was way too tired to be working on it.
The group was to meet at noon on Saturday to finish the top. I set my alarm for 6:30am. I get up and start working on the blocks. I call my kids to get up, there is a lot of work to do and I was going to be sewing. I cut the needed fabric for the remaining 3 star blocks and proceed to get them pieced. The 17 year old daughter made breakfast. The 24 year old daughter, Tatianna, prints the last picture for the quilt and gets that block ready to be framed. The 21 year old son feeds the pigs and then becomes the gopher.
At 10:30 I am ready to leave the house to go set up. The kids have loaded what we need, so Tatianna and I head out. No one was there to let us in to set up. So we ran to the dollar store to get a flannel backed tablecloth to use as a design wall. They didn't have any. We decided to just use to tables put side by side to do the lay out.
Finally someone with a key shows up. We haul what we need into the building and get things set up. With time to kill, we realize we brought all the picture blocks and the parts needed to finish them but not the star blocks. A quick call to the 21 year old and the star blocks are on their way. In the mean time I start chain piecing the frames around the picture blocks. As I finish a strip, Tatianna takes it, trims it, presses it and puts it back into rotation. Within an hour all 10 blocks are framed and the star blocks arrived. Of course I had to stop and fill a bobbin and forgot the spare thread. We ended up pulling the spool off my daughter's machine and using it all to fill the bobbin which took us down to one machine.
We break for lunch. Soup that warms the body and soul, plus good company. Only 3 others showed up for this session and it was only an suppose to be 2 hours. I didn't think we would get much done. It was the first Saturday in December after all and we have had a lot of illness in the congregation. One woman in the group is very ill and 2 of the women were with her. This is a great group of Women who take very good care of each other.
Unfortunately the ill woman still had her block to finish and had the block pieces somewhere at her home. There was some talk of asking the husband to find it. Tatianna and I decided we could figure out what fabric she used (it came from my stash) and just make the block for her. So we could not get the top completed during that session.
What we did do was decide on the placement of everything. We knew the missing block was green so we planned for it. I stepped back and let the others figure out the placement. Then Tatianna and I started sewing the blocks together. We got everything sewn that we could without the last block. At 2:30pm, we were loading up the car and heading to the store for more thread and some other things.
When we got home, Tatianna found the fabric needed for the last block and I got busy making it. Tatianna then braved the main part of the stash to find the backing fabric. In a matter of an hour and half, we had completed the quilt top and started on the back. Deadline for this quilt is December 15th. It must be completed. We are down to basting quilting and binding.
The whole day of quilting gave me such a great feeling. What made this feeling even better was, I never had to tell Tatianna what to do. There was no plan made, just action taken. She and I make a great team and neither of us are great or even really accomplished quilters.
I like to say I am not a great quilter but I do quilt. I think the only way to become good at something is to do it. Not doing it because you aren't good at it only means you will never become good at it. It is a learning experience.
Another reason it was a great feeling is that I was doing something I loved and for someone else. Working with other women makes these projects much more fun. I know there were reasons for Quilting Bees. I had always heard it was for social reasons and to show support for each other. I think it is sad that we don't do them any more. In society today women don't get the opportunity to gather and work together nearly enough.
When I have my quilt shop I am going to encourage quilting bees. Would you come to one?
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