I finally understand why I write as opposed to other arts, some of which I'm fairly good at (not great). Two months ago I offered to make a quilt for a fundraiser at the Cape Canaveral Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. Whew! That's a mouthful, er lineful.
My intentions were good. I do enjoy quilting but haven't made a quilt in about a year. I have enough fabric to make at least 20 quilts but that is normal for a quilter. I bought an under-the-bed container to hide my precious store away but it was so full it didn't fit under the bed. So the quilt room, which was going to be converted into a guest room or office, remains a quilt room.
After the meeting of the NLAPW at which I made the commitment I went into the quilt room and started looking through the fabric. Originally it was going to be a scrap quilt to use up odds and ends of the smaller pieces in my scrap box. Can you believe that some quilters throw them away? Just because they're only 2 inches squeare...
I got out a pattern and cut the scraps into squares and triangles and followed the instructions to throw them all in a bag, pull them out one at a time and sew. The pattern assured me that they would all go together and look great once it was done. WRONG! After cutting and digging out squares and sewing them altogether I had the ugliest quilt top I've ever seen! I realized I was going to have to get more serious about the project. Now keep in mind that I write for magazines and therefore I'm very deadline oriented, which means that I always meet my deadlines, just barely. This quilt project would be no exception.
Six days ago I selected fabrics with blues, yellows, greens and white in them, got out a non-scrap pattern and started cutting--again. Then going step by step (and there were a lot of steps) until finally the quilt top was done three days later. By the way, if you don't quilt, making the top is the fun part so I was enjoying myself. Then came the not-so-fun part. I had to piece the backing, sew it, press it and pin it to the rug; put the batting on top and smooth it out; lay the beautiful quilt top on that, smooth it out; and then get down on my hands and knees and start pinning the 'sandwich' together. By the time I was done with that, day 4, every muscle in my body ached.
I spent day five catching up on real-life things, like grocery shopping, going to the bank and other such mundane errands. When I came home, there was no way to avoid it. I had to start the quilting process.
"Honey, Jeopardy's coming on," my husband shouted to me over the whir of the sewing machine. I told him to keep his score and I'd have to skip one night because I was running out of time. I started stippling. Stippling is a term that means you sew in little patterns that resemble jig-saw puzzle pieces continuously until the entire quilt is held together. That takes a LONG time and hurts your neck and shoulders. I got about 1/4 of the quilt stippled before I stopped for the night.
Today is day 6. I finished stippling. It took hours but looks great. Now all I have to do is cut the binding strips, sew them together end to end, add them to the quilt, handstitch them to the back, make a label and I'll be done! There's only one problem, tomorrow is day 7 and I have to leave for the fundraiser at 10 AM. In other words I have a long night ahead of me, but I will meet my deadline. I've never missed one.
All of a sudden, writing seems to be much more fun. I have two articles to write next week and maybe I'll even write some flash fiction. Even if I just write emails and grocery lists, now I know why I'm a writer!
Copyright Susan Cross
