Pricked by a Needle

Everyone has a little art in their soul. We just usually count painting , drawing, sculpture and even those only if the skill can be a source of income. Around the edges are a well-set table, a blooming flower bed, a highly polished piece of wood, or a poem added to a lunch sack. Mine is pieces of fabric and a needle. Like many talents, it developed slowly. My mother had a sewing machine, but creating for her was a tension filled process. She insisted I take a Home Ec course and we made an apron. That opened up a vision of other possibilities. Patterns were cheap and printed flower sacks were free. I could see what the final product would be and the world was mine

I’ve told of getting a Singer Portable for a high school graduation and my daddy teaching me how to take it apart and put it back together. Til age forty I did clothes for me, my mother, three children, and shirts for David in an upstairs addition Sarah called, “Mommy’s play room.” A friend and I have a long history of going to The Quilt Show to walk amazed among the presentations and a new longing was born. I took a class, bought a book, (a good step for any new task) and have never looked back. I am a piecer and not a quilter. The names are enticing. Monkey Wrench, Sunbonnet Girl/Boy, Dutch Chain, Snail’s Path, Buttterflies, and Flying Geese. Browns, yellows oranges, greens, and a smattering of reds. No pinks! I have made over 70 baby floor quilts with appliqué and name for friends and relatives, several are used in the next generation. I do straight lines, triangles, and parallelograms. Arc and circles are off my list. The most fun was making “like and equal are not the same” quilts for twins with the same shape put together as Tumbling Blocks and LeMoyne Star.

Validation of the use of time wisely is always gladly accepted. The Home Sewing Association has research saying that sewing lowers blood pressure , heart rate, and reduces stress. I just know that finishing a last seam, clipping the threads, and holding up the final product brings a smile and a sigh of success. I have at least two more projects on my want to do list that will involve wandering in JoAnne’s and feeling fabric, matching colors, cutting strips, and a seam at a time building a new creation. The name is Between Friends. Besides, this is one of those attributes that makes me worth more than a handful of rubies.

She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple

Proverbs 31:22