Dear Reader,
Quilting. Susie White, one of this year's Write a DearReader Honorable Mentions caught my attention right away, because I sew quilts. I sew with abandon. No plans, no pressure, but just like the title of her piece, I seem to always make...
SOMETHIN' FROM NOTHIN'
Looking back, growing up with Depression and World War II-era parents had a profound effect on my values and outlook on life, one I certainly didn't appreciate at the time. As a farm child in the 1960's, I was thoroughly embarrassed to carry my sandwich to school in a leftover Holsum bread bag or to wear the pants my brother had outgrown. While re-purposing was not a word back then, it was already a necessary way of life for my family.
My dad saved the string from the feed bags and the twine from the hay bales in the barn. In the house, my mom saved mayonnaise jars for canning vegetables from the garden in the summer and fabric scraps from sewing our clothes for making quilts in the winter. Both of my parents had grown up in lean times and had learned to not waste a thing that might prove useful down the road. "Waste not, want not."
Jumping to the present, that bit of personal history probably helps explain why I now find great satisfaction in making somethin' from nothin'--placemats from worn jeans, yard art from ceiling fan blades, and, like my mother, quilts from fabric scraps.
A couple of years ago, a good friend, a quilter herself, asked if I'd be interested in joining her "Scrappy Quilters" group. I'd been intrigued in the past upon hearing her talk about it. They needed someone with a portable sewing machine who could join them one evening a month to help piece quilt tops. This sounded like a perfect fit for me! Their name alone spoke to my old heart. Further, it allowed me an opportunity to put my vintage Featherweight sewing machine to good use. A Featherweight is a delightful little sewing machine that comes in a handy carrying case. If you're not familiar with them, you might think it was a toy. Mine dates back to 1951. So, "Have Featherweight, Will Travel" soon became my motto.
That was the start of my monthly gatherings with a bunch of warm and welcoming women. We meet in their church basement to make, you guessed it, scrappy quilts. Thanks to many donations of fabric, used sheets and blankets, and an assortment of other usable items such as orphan quilt blocks, vintage linens, and curtains, a quilt top is pieced together and placed on top of a layer of filling (or batting) and a backing. This "sandwich" is secured by tying it with crochet cotton or yarn at regular intervals to keep the three layers from shifting. The sides of the quilt are then hemmed to enclose all raw edges. Finally, an embroidered Bible verse is hand-stitched onto the back of the quilt.
Clearly, the Scrappy Quilters are not out to create museum pieces of art, unless it's perhaps a folk art museum. Rather, the goal is to provide warmth and comfort via our humble quilts, whether they go to ill or grieving members of the congregation or are distributed in our community to single mothers and their babies, ex-offenders struggling to get back on their feet, and domestic abuse victims. Scrappy quilts are practical utility quilts but, in a sense, they may be the most creative of all. They date back to many years ago as a product of necessity, with women scrimping and saving every bit of extra cloth and thread, sometimes exchanging them with neighbors, to make intricate patchwork quilts to keep their families warm. For us, there are few set patterns, no pre-selected, coordinated fabrics in kits, no expectations of perfection. No two quilts are alike and materials are kept out of landfills, and that is the beauty of it.
Making somethin' from nothin' is a joyful labor of love and imagination and oh, so very satisfying!
Susie White
Honorable Mention, 2019 Write a DearReader Contest
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
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