Not a Total Slacker

To my surprise, I started this year with a sewing surge.  To be clear, I am not a great quilter; I make only the most simple quilts, and I am on the far other end of perfection in my craft.  For instance, today I realized that I put two whole rows upside down on a quilt I was assembling, shrugged, and called it done.  I chalk every mistake up to a “design decision” because no one knows what I intended in the first place, and so far no one has noticed or cared.  That said, I have still been more productive at this point in 2024 than in any recent year, and have completed 5 quilt tops so far, with two more in the works, a third "lazy goose" and another one with the Charley Harper bird prints.  They are both mostly cut out and waiting for background fabric.  Since I “quilt by checkbook,” it might be awhile before they are truly finished and in the stack for people to see at my year-end review, which is fine since the year-end won’t happen for . . . a year.   

I also found an old quilt top that was hand-pieced by my mother.   It has been in a box since she died, and was made sometime prior to 1990, and the cutting and sewing was all done by hand, using a cardboard template that she made herself.  She made quilt  tops for several family members - my daughter and the men and boys in the family - and sent them to an Appalachian quilt guild to be hand quilted, and this must be the last one she was able to complete since she never mailed it off for quilting.  My mother had sewn her whole life, making all of her and many of my dresses when I was young.  She had dementia that developed over many years, and it is evident to me from the uneven stitches in this quilt top that she was probably nearing the point where she could no longer sew.  My relationship with her was fraught, and I did not keep any of the un-gifted quilts she made, sending them instead to a brother who wanted them.  I am finally ready to have this last quilt top backed and quilted, hoping that my son or a grandchild might like to have it. 

I doubt that I’ll continue to complete projects at this pace and that’s okay, although it would be nice to use up more of the fabric that is stacked up in my sewing room.   Whether I do or not, it feels good to have made a productive start to the new year.