Saturday, December 18, 2010

Pieced Together

I have this vision of handmade quilts, on our beds, in our linen closets, in our family room draped over a old ladder I have yet to find.  We've had this amazing quilt Jon's grandma made for us early on in our marriage.  We've hauled it everywhere - to downtown pavements for Big Band concerts in the park, to lush grasses for picnics or gazing at a sky, to the great indoors for making forts in a family room.  And I've been toying with the idea of making them myself for some time now - wanting to get elbows-deep in fabric.  I'm tactile that way. 

Do I own a sewing machine?  No.

Do I know how to sew?  Um, well, no.

Have I ever had any interest in learning to sew before?  Well, no to that one, too, actually.

Details, details.

But I'm gonna do it.  I'm gonna make a quilt.  It's one of my winter projects and I'm totally enthused about it. 

My sister and I were at a fabric store the other day perusing the aisles and I'm pulling out this and that, ooooing and ahhhhing and "Oh-wouldn't-this-be-perfect-for"ing all over the place.  Candy.  I'm tellin' ya, it was candy.


Yummy.  And she laughed and made some comment about how confident I was in both my (future) ability and my belief that I'd really love sewing. 

(Insert sheepish, shy smile here.)  What can I say...I dream big and go all in.  I'd be a terrible poker player.

So more to come on this.  (More to come on another project, too.  Can't share until after Christmas.)  But who knows.  I just may become a quilter.  Or at the very least know how to hem a pair of pants or sew on a button.

And I love how lives mesh in the same sort of quilting way.  A dear friend and her Mod city-girl-prints and my cottage-chic florals and paisleys combine for a time of cozy comforts tonight.  Stitched in beside a band that is both quiet and loud, playing Christmas music at it's finest. 

Florals, polka dots, stripes, herringbone.  Hodge-podged and different.  Scraps of this and leftovers of that.  All coming together to shape an object of warmth and love.  It's rather glorious.  And maybe even a faint glimpse of Heaven.

3 comments:

  1. i heart you. for reals. and i think we're gonna love sewing ;).

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  2. you are gonna love sewing! there is something so very relaxing and rewarding about it. i don't know if you have an inspirational picture, but soule mama has a beginner style that looks easy http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2006/07/for_the_beach.html
    and you could do different size blocks in the strips for more variety.
    can't wait to see what you come up with!

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  3. thanks for the tip, sara! i loved the soule mama quilt!

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