The Material Just Spoke to Me…

I had a quiet house this last week.

With three kids at TeenPact Iowa, Buddy at Grandma’s, and Matt working every day – it was just me. All day. In a big quiet house.

For a stay-at-home home school mom – it is a rare event. It was also wonderful! 🙂

So what did I do with my week of alone time? Well – I started the week with a big list of things to accomplish – but I got a little sidetracked.

On day two of my week of quiet I was still on target. My job for that day was to sort through all of the material we had stashed – fold it all neatly and put it in Rubbermaid tubs. After all the crafting the girls have been doing – and all the costumes they had made – it was a huge mess!

Matt carried the tubs upstairs before he left for the day and I got busy right after breakfast.

I was all business at first – but didn’t take long for the material to start speaking to me.

I’m not exactly sure how it happened – but I found myself putting pieces together to see how they would look. Little pieces of calico would call out “look at me! Wouldn’t I look pretty beside the dark blue over there?”

A quilt was forming in my mind.

By the time I had discovered 2 bias square plastic quilt forms that I had gotten at a garage sale – and forgotten I owned –  I was a goner.

I mean honestly – who wants to sort insulated coveralls and clean the attic when you can quilt!
Jan came home that night to a mess. I was sitting on the floor of the living room surrounded by fabric scraps and wearing a silly grin.

He helped me carry the sewing machine up to the sun room when the light was better and got out of my way.

I was on a roll!
By the time he came home the next night – the material was still spread out all over the living room, and threads and scraps had seeped into the entire downstairs.

But there was also piles of 9 patch quilt squares on both the dining room and sun room floor.

He took me to the Amish store for more material and batting.

By the end of the week I had enough squares to piece together 2 twin size quilts, a back ache from sewing, and a major mess in my house.

But boy was it fun!

I haven’t patched a quilt together for 19 years. Yes – 19!

I’m a little out of practice – but it’s all coming back to me.

The next step is backing, batting and basting. Then I have a whole lot of hand quilting to do.

Wonder if I can get them done and on the girl’s beds before Dagmar’s graduation in May?

Anybody up for a quilting bee? 🙂