Dear Reader Column 05-23-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm not an expert quilt person; instead I look for material that "feels" good, buy at least a yard of six different kinds; go home, cut some pieces and start sewing. Who knows what I'll end up with? There's never a "business plan" when I begin a new quilting venture. But I'm beginning to think this time I should have had one.

It's 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, a time when I should feel refreshed from the weekend, but instead I'm sick and tired of this stupid quilt. For the moment it's got me beaten.

Gwennette, a book club reader, challenged me to finish this quilt by May 31st and I was expecting to be done today--two weeks early; but when I started pinning the back on, I realized my masterpiece was lopsided.

I've made several quilts and this is the first time something like this has happened and I can't figure out how to fix it.

I'm frustrated and I wish I could take my quilt to the woman at the fabric store. She sells sewing machines and in between customers she's always working on quilts. So I know she's experienced, but I also know from meeting her, that she's not "3 a.m. friendly".

What I mean by "3 a.m. friendly" is there are some people who make you feel so comfortable when you're around them, that you know if you had to call them up at 3 a.m. and ask for their help, they wouldn't give you the third degree; they'd just hop out of bed and say, "Where should I meet you? Tell me what I can do to help."

When I was shopping for a new sewing machine a couple of weeks ago, I told the clerk I didn't need anything fancy, because I only make a quilt every now and then. And then when I shared my loose quilt-making methods with her, her nose went into one of those scrunched-up looking positions and she brusquely assured me that 'she' only quilted the traditional, proper, way. Nuf said. I went somewhere else and bought my machine.

Now if this woman were 3 a.m. friendly, I could take my amateur quilt into the store, hold it up in front of her, she'd see the problem, smile and say, "Here's a quick fix, Suzanne."

But instead, here I sit with my lopsided catastrophe and I'm angry at that woman, the woman who sells sewing machines, but she hasn't even done anything to me. I guess I feel angry because I know she's got the answer I need, but she's not willing to look beyond quilting perfection. Nope, she won't go quilt-slumming with me.

Oh boy, I could use a 3 a.m. friendly face today.

When things get tough, sometimes I switch gears. So I decided to put the quilt aside and drive to the Bose outlet store, because I needed a carrying case for my Nano docking station.

My iTunes library has been causing me problems lately too, so when the clerk was ringing up my purchase I thought I'd take a chance and ask. "You don't happen to use iTunes, do you? I'm trying to move my music library from my old computer to my new one, but I can't figure out how to do it."

The guy seemed a bit nervous about answering my question, but then I heard the magic words, "I'm not an expert or anything," he said. "I don't know if this is the right way of doing it, and there's probably a more efficient way, but here's what you could do."

"Don't worry about not doing it the 'right' way," I assured him, "because that's how I sew my quilts, too."

He was my kind of my guy; my 3 a.m. savior. I wonder if he knows how to sew?

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

P.S. Sample Lisa Tucker's newest book, Once Upon a Day, enter to win a free copy and see the book club members who met her in person. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=805&site=6

READ THE CLASSICS: The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=18

Comments

[Cindy Ziegler]

Suzanne
Besides being a great book club facilitator you're also a quilter?
Wonderful, I've gotten a lot of insight form your blogs!
Don't worry about the quilt. The next time you look at it you'll probably figure out whats wrong!And don't let the "Quilt Police" get to you.If not come to Oklahoma and I'll take a look!

[Veronica Robinson]

I'm reading Richard Laymon's, "Into The Fire". Except for James Patterson, Mr. Lymon is an excellent reader. I can't wait for the next pages.

[Joanne Bockus]

Suzanne, about the quilt, I do that kind of quilting too. There are probably a lot of us out here. If the quilt is just lopsided for some reason, how about laying it out flat and either squaring up the sides that are off, or to make it even more different, lop off an odd shaped elongated triangle the length of the side. Flip that over and lop off a matching but opposite triangle on the other side, then attach a new piece of a contrasting fabric on both sides to make it look like you planned it offcenter, kind of on the bias!
If all else fails and you still hate it, pitch it so you don't ever feel guilty for being Avant Garde.
Love your book reader service but it makes me buy more books now, just started trading also at a new service called the paperbackswap.com, great place to swap instead of having to buy! Joanne