When we began this adventure I knew I would need something to keep myself busy since Bruce would still be working, as we traveled from place to place. Sewing was my go to idea. In fact, we bought a mid-bunk 5th wheel simply so I’d have a room to set up for sewing.
I started sewing as a teen, when my mom bought me a Montgomery Wards sewing machine, as a High School graduation gift. I used it for several years, then got an itch for a machine with better doohickeys. Enter Pfaff! A strong German made machine back in 1982. I had that machine from 1982 until 2018 when I updated to a Juki with new technology, the kind that didn’t exist when I bought my Pfaff. (And I have to admit, my old Pfaff was a better machine)
For me, sewing is like putting a puzzle together. My job is to cut the pieces and fit them together so that they transform into a beautiful garment. Of course, I also use it to hem pants, make curtains, pillow covers, tote bags, mend zippers and any/all various kinds of useful projects. But I do those things with reluctance compared to approaching a new garment or a craft.
One of the things that I always wanted to attempt was quilting. I had a great aunt, in Arkansas who quilted voraciously. She also did tailoring and sewing as a business during the depression, but quilting was a big part of her world. Flour sacks, old shirts and dresses and sheets made up her fabric selections. She had an old fashioned quilt frame set up in the living room, and in between running the house and farm, she’d take a few stitches until her latest creation was finished. We had several of her quilts in the family, one I slept under for years.
Our travels seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn this craft. I’d already done some wonky scrap projects with remnants of Covid fabrics. But had never really attempted to cut and fit the pieces of a quilt from scratch.
I’m addicted
I’ll just say it, quilting is a cult. It inhales you after the first few experimental pieces, and you are forever its slave. It even has its own language. Long Arm, free motion, paper piecing, a day with Jack (the seam ripper), binding wars (hand vs machine). Stitch in the ditch, 1/4” foot, pre-cuts, fat quarters. We speak in code, it’s required. You become a fabric snob. $3.99 fabric from the now bankrupt Joann’s, will no longer suffice. You must buy from quilt shops that sell designer fabric, it’s ’the way’.
There is so much out there to occupy me! I learn as I go and as I’ve traveled and met other quilters I continue to glean from them. I’ve done 3 yard quilts, jelly roll quilts, scrap quilts, star quilts, holiday quilts, table toppers, themed quilts (Evan has a truck quilt and I’ve made 3 different cat quilts). It’s a never ending rabbit hole of creativity for me.
Along the way I’ve had my quilts ‘sandwiched’ and quilted by professional long arm quilters, who get it done with computerized patterns, that compliment whatever prints I’ve used in my tops. A sandwich is when the top is layered with the batting and the backing, then put on a machine that runs automatically (with some oversight) across the quilt, stitching it all together. Once it’s’ finished, you trim and bind it, by hand or machine, depending on your preference.
I’m a machine gal all the way…
I’ve given quilts, or smaller pieces that I’ve quilted, to about 25 people. My goal is for all my closest friends to have a quilt from me before I leave this world! Hopefully I have a few years left to get that done.
Friday I blasted Bruce out of the hotel to drive to Paducah KY, in order to visit a very well known (among quilters), fabric store
Hancocks Fabrics of Paducah
It’s a quilters Mecca. I had a quilt in mind for a friend but hadn’t found the proper fabric for it yet. Paducah had it! And they had seasoned quilters who could help me pick one of the coordinating fabrics that I was undecided about. So much to look at! I’m limited by space, but if I had a full quilt studio with shelves, bolts of fabric might have come home with me.
One day
Paducah is also home to the National Quilt Museum. Unfortunately we got there too late for me to both shop, and walk the museum. So after I spent 90 min or so in the store, while Bruce worked from the truck, we headed to the downtown area. Side note: Hancocks has benches inside and outside, for husbands who shuttle their wives to and from these cult centers of gathering. They’re very thoughtful that way.
Downtown Paducah is a UNESCO Creative City, a designation given to very few places in the US.
Cozy shops with local artisan wares lined the streets. Restaurants, a movie theater, play house, and a larger entertainment venue, lived within a few streets of each other. Buildings with original signage and a mural wall that went on for an entire city block.
Charming is the word that continued to run through my mind. We will go back.
I’ve shopped in quilt stores in almost every city we’ve been to. Holbrook AZ, a town on Route 66 even had a store, and there wasn’t much to see in Holbrook! It had the biggest selection of cowboy fabric I’ve seen to date. And the southwest collection was amazing.
Gulf Shores AL, is where I connected with a quilt group that had been established more than a decade ago. It was made up of snowbirds from all over the country and Canada. When the fire displaced us, they were there to help pack and move our things, along with generously donating to us. I’d barely known them a week!
Quilting = the generously kind cult.
As I enter another year on this planet, having survived one of the most unsettling ones in my life, I am so grateful for this hobby. It challenges me, excites me, blesses me, exposes me to new people and skills, and it gives me an endless outlet for creativity.
Happy Birthday to me!
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