Laowai

I was reading Quiltfolk magazine and they had an article about an old quilt and it's history. It explained that the quilt was made by a woman in 1875 and it was made shortly after her five year old son died. It struck me as so poignant and so full of feeling the idea that a quilt was made while the woman was grieving her son. That her hands were working with the fabrics and thread as her mind was trying to work on some sort of healing. The idea that a quilt is so closely associated with an event or a time interests me. 

It mades me think of the quilts that I have made. What was I thinking, what was happening in my life? Some quilts have strong feelings associated with them. They can be happiness but they can also be angst or worry or sadness.

Martha Stewart had an article about the health benefits of hands-on activities. It pointed out how people turn to sewing, knitting and crafting in times of struggle. From the civil war when people made socks and war supplies to today when craft companies noticed a remarkable uptick when the pandemic hit.

The association of handiwork and the time it was made gives it so much more meaning. It's not just a chicken scratch embroidered tablecloth or a scrappy log cabin quilt or a ripple stitch crochet blanket. The items are elevated to into a physical manifestation of the thoughts and feelings of the maker at a specific moment in her life.

And the craft trends interest me too. Right now it's interesting that masks are a creative and useful outlet. Not only do the crafts reflect the wider design and style trends of the time but the crafts also reflect everyday practical needs and the availability of materials. So while we make masks with patterns that we find online and fabric that we can find at Joann's – our grandmas made quilts from patterns in popular magazines out of feed sack fabrics. It's a time old tradition that craft and place and time are connected and I just love the richness of it all.

So what's my next quilt? Well I might go back. Back to a quilt that I made Brian when we were so young. I think it was just the second quilt I ever made. In my inexperience I did a shabby job, so I might go back and re-do the quilting. But I'm saving that for the dreary days of January and February. And I'm still on a mission to reduce my ridiculously large stash of fabric – I have a stash-buster quilt pattern in mind. Stay tuned and sorry for the ranting lecture.