When my brothers' daughters were little, they were part of Camp Quilt for three summers. My mother and their mothers would pitch in, as would Uncle John, and the result was that Laura, Candace, Leslie, and Ali all made quilts, pretty much by themselves. Of course the Good Quilting Fairy was a part of this process. The first summer each girl kept their quilts. The second and third summers I suggested that they make quilts for the church nursery or someone else. My recollection is that they didn't (maybe Candace gave one to her Grandma Miller and maybe Ali gave one to a friend) and that there was eye-rolling at the suggestion. The winter of my niece Leslie's senior year of high school, she asked if she could make a quilt for a friend of hers who was going away. Aha! She above all got it: that quilts were meant to be given away. (Leslie also enlisted my help in making her parents a Christmas photo quilt but that's a separate blog entry).
So when Leslie was her working on her 4th quilt, we decided it was time she learned how to use the rotary cutter. My teaching style is to give some basic directions and then try not to hover. Leslie had her fabrics, knew what to do, and was just cutting away. She asked at one part, pretty far into the process, "Should I be starting at the 0 instead of the 1?" She had cut quite a bit of fabric 1" short. I remember scooping up the miscut pieces and telling Les it was no big deal, and she continued her cutting, this time using the correct measurements by starting at 0.
I saved these scrap pieces, and they became part of a demonstration in foundation piecing for a reversible quilt class that I was teaching. The quilt pictured here has 48 blocks. One side's blocks are all half-square triangles using fabrics from Leslie's quilts. The other side are scrap strips from various projects. Look at the February 6, 2008 blog entry when the body of this quilt was originally done. It's just been sitting, waiting to be completed.
My friend Cathy is on the committee to find a suitable going-away present for her long-time minister Laura at the Downers Grove United Church of Christ and asked if I had any quilts just hanging around. Cathy spotted this scrap quilt. So I finished it, giving a bit of unity by using the same border on the front and the back. Even the binding uses scraps of bindings from various quilts. Reverend Laura is a wonderful woman who has a great ability to bring various personalities together into a unified whole. This quilt is symbolic in some ways of Laura's talent and ministry. That this quilt started with my niece Leslie's altruism makes it even more special. 58" x 74"
Courtesy of my brother Doug, here are most of the Whites at Mom and Dad's - Autumn Green, 67th and Cicero, in Chicago. Missing from this picture are niece Jennifer (in Florida with her husband), niece Candace (in the bathroom), and grand-niece Elle (sleeping). Brother Al made Skyline Chili, sister Paula brought a sandwich platter, brother Doug had various goodies, John brought all the fixin's for the chili, and Mom and Dad provided the pies. Lovely day - a luxury to be with family. We are blessed. On a negative note, the Vicodin I'm taking for knee pain and rehab seems to heighten the senses, especially hearing. My dad's accordion music is lovely, but my brother took this shot when I had obviously had enough. On a positive note, I've been up in my studio a couple of times. While doing the stairs is manageable, using the foot pedal of the sewing machine isn't - just yet..jpg)
