Piece by piece—Carolyn R. Wilker

I’ve always admired the craftsmanship that goes into quilting, especially those quilts that look like works of art. Like the quilts auctioned off at the Mennonite Relief sale each spring.  My style, up to the last quilt project, has always been hand stitching around the design elements of a fabric panel.

My eldest daughter asked if I would sew a quilt for their new baby’s crib.  She wanted a fairly simple design that wouldn’t take me endless hours to complete, but with colours that match the baby’s room. One day before Christmas, we went to the Creative Sisters Quilt Studio in Kitchener. A young woman named Jemcah helped us find suitable fabrics. We had a lot of fun playing with the fat quarters, arranging the colours and patterns.  When we came upon the design she liked best, my daughter took out her cell phone and snapped a picture.

I found a background fabric. “What do you think of this?” I asked. The large pattern mirrored one of the small print squares. My daughter loved it. Jemcah and another shopper I happened to know helped us to figure out the amounts of fabric to create the design. I was getting excited about sewing it.

            My goal was to have the quilt done before the baby was born. Like carpentry, one measures several times and cuts once. Unlike carpentry, the fabric had to be washed first. I got it done in time, enjoying the process and the final product. It gave me the itch to try something else, eventually.

quilt on baby's bed

 

A particular quilt shop is offering the chance at making a mystery quilt. You get all the fabric at once and the first set of instructions. Each month, the shop sends a new set of instructions until you have the whole set.

I was thinking of signing up, but with Write Canada conference coming up and being on faculty, I didn’t know if I should take on an extra project, so I decided to wait.

 Good news came on Monday—the deadline has been extended to June 20^th.  After conference, I really could drive out to Shakespeare and pick up my packet. Hmm.

 I can choose from a main colour in red, blue, brown or some other colour. Then someone at the quilt shop will choose coordinating fabrics in light and dark to go with it. What colour shall I choose? What will this quilt look like when it’s done. Ah, but that’s the secret.

The newsletter promised that the pattern only requires basic cutting and piecing skills. So what is there to worry about? Except that I like to see what I’m getting myself into and have that next book to finish.

What does quilting have to do with faith? At first glance, unless you sew, it may not be immediately obvious. It's about the stitching together of many parts. In our faith, we have to do our own stitching. Not literally, but we put the pieces together out of what we know and learn. We may have guidance of a pastor or parent, but we don’t just get it handed down from our parents. We have to do our own work.  

 A small child can only handle the simplest concept, such as “Jesus loves me, this I know.” Sing the song as young as three or four for the first time—or much later. Even adults often grapple with that one when troubles crop up.

As we grow, though, we start to “get it,” especially at the “head” level. It can take awhile for it to reach our heart, and if we’re brave, we ask a whole lot more questions and try bigger leaps of faith, just as I’m considering with this mystery quilt. Maybe.

This may be a lesson for me too. I’m not sure this is the right time for me to take on such a daunting project. Writing is a piece by piece project too, in a way. A collection of poetry or chapters for a book, created one at a time.

 There will be other quilting projects to tempt me come fall and winter. This summer I plan to write and spend time with family and friends. And garden.

 Until next time, remember, whatever you’re learning, to build it carefully, piece by piece.

 

Carolyn R. Wilker is a southwestern Ontario based writer and editor with an interest in gardening, sewing and, of course, her family. www.carolynwilker.ca

A Double Blessing - Mann

My first grandchild is being married this month. This event has stirred my thoughts. What does a Grandma give her granddaughter and name-sake for a wedding present? Something that will last forever? Or perhaps money that she can spend or choose to save? Maybe an heirloom or a piece of jewellery that has been in the family?

I began to think about making her something with my hands. I used to sew—perhaps I could make a quilt. I became quite excited about this, which later took me to the fabric shop. Colours, textures, diagrams and patterns darkened my passion creating an almost impossible maze. Yet, I persevered and began to choose shades that enhanced each other. The clerk suggested a reversible quilt that I could do on the sewing machine. This sounded perfect as I didn’t have the room to set up quilting frames, nor did I have the time or knowledge to quilt. I went home that day with a large yellow bag filled with countless fabrics, eager to cut and piece together the blocks to shape a chocolate-shaded queen size quilt, “with just the right colour of orange, Gran.”

As I cut the quilt bat, placed the coloured triangles in place and continued to build the blocks with the assorted colours, I began to think how much this exercise was like writing. Every block represented a well-chosen word. The strip of cloth framing the quilt block reminded me of phrases and statements that connect thoughts, taking the reader further into the plot. After laying the blocks out on a large surface, it was easy to see when an overused colour was in the wrong place distorting the imagery. How often does that happen in writing where a favourite word or concept becomes over-kill? The colour and strength of thread carefully woven through the large piece of handiwork is not unlike the importance of vision and passion that holds a long effort of writing together.

I have put the squares together showing the quilt in all its glory. And I marvel how often important dreams start with little things. And reversible? Yes, it ends up that in the end I have two quilts, two different colour concepts, back to back. I agree that this was very ambitious for me at a time when I was busy with family illness, church leadership and writing. Yet, I inserted stitches into the cloth with prayer, placing the colours side-by-side asking for peace and love within this marriage. Working with so many colours, I soon realized how forgiving the pattern was to my mistakes - again a perfect image of a good marriage.

The droning sound of my 40-year-old Elna sewing machine motor reminded me that my granddaughter would have noisy and overbearing life-problems not unlike those I’ve had through fifty years of marriage. The push and pull of moving a 1400 piece quilt through the arm of the sewing machine illustrated how awkward some situations would be, creating their own tension.

And I smile as I think of this reversible quilt. Two sided! One for her and one for him. But they have to be together to enjoy this benefit. Most of all, I thought of how this quilt would be the mantle, the covering of God’s love – perhaps a double blessing.


Donna Mann
Author of WinterGrief: a personal response to grief and Aggie's Storms, the story of a girl who grew up to become the first woman elected to Canadian Parliament.

http://www.homestead.com/the_meadows/mann.html