In the beginning ....

About 6 years ago I decided to make a quilt. I liked quilts. We always had quilts growing up during those cold Illinois winters. I could sew a straight line. How hard could it be?

A few years prior I had purchased some curtains. “Machine Washable” the label said – “perfect!” I said. I hung my new curtains and after about a year (it was probably longer, but let’s say it was a year, OK?) I decided to wash them. What went into the washing machine and what came out were two TOTALLY different things. They fell apart. I don’t mean a few loose seams, or a ravel here or there, I mean what exited the washer was an unrecognizable clump of fibers. I was not happy. I decided that I would, from that moment forward, make my own curtains. I mean how hard could it be?? I purchased a used Singer sewing machine from a local sewing machine repair shop. I didn’t know how to thread it, but with the help of a friend I was soon sewing away. I made tab top curtains for the living room and I’m pleased to report that they turned out great. I used twin bed sheets and the whole affair cost me around 40 bucks. When I put them into the wash, they came out of the washer in one piece. Actually I still have those curtains – waiting patiently for me to again live somewhere that has windows to fit. It was with this sense of undeserved confidence that I undertook quilting. Boy was I in for a surprise.

Turns out I knew nothing about quilting. Never one to let ignorance deter my ability to spend money – I went out and bought a rotary cutting mat and a rotary cutter. How I knew I needed these things I don’t recall. I probably read it somewhere on the internet. I’m sure that further instructions were available, buy HEY! – there was shopping to be done !! I purchased some fabric and set about making a rudimentary quilt block. . Instructions? – who needs instructions? You sew together some squares and some triangles and bingo – you got yourself a quilt, right?? This was going to be a cinch. What I sewed that day was not a quilt block. I’m not sure that the English language has words to describe the puckered, mismatched, lopsided THING that I eventually constructed. If memory serves I spent most of a day to create this abomination and less that 1 second to decide to trash the embarrassing thing and give up.

I’m not sure what happened after that – a long stretch of work, a shiny object in the corner, but properly distracted - I forgot about making a quilt. I stashed the rotary mat and cutter in a closet (after they had accumulated sufficient amounts of dust from sitting on the dining room table for a few weeks) and moved on with my life. Quilting was a vague and unpleasant memory. Life was good.

Then it happened. Bleary eyed and gazing blankly at the TV one morning I surfed upon it and there it was. The most beautiful quilt I’d ever seen. A Tree of Life quilt by Diana McClun on Alex Anderson’s (now defunct) quilting show ‘Simply Quilts’.

That’s a great idea!” I thought.  

(By the way - that pattern is still available here:  http://www.dianaandlaura.com/patterns.html)

Then the memories came rushing back. Horribly disfigured quilt block memories. I could never make that quilt. I couldn’t make a remedial quilt block much less THAT!

to be continued.....

Dave