old things

I love to browse through old things. I like to look in boxes that were packed away years ago just to see what was put in them. An old bookmark, a picture of me in seventh grade, a doily I learned to embroidery on which sends me off into memories of Grandma and Papa. The smells of the kitchen of chicken and dumplin's and banana cake. The sounds of laughter and whistling that my Papa never tired of.

Yesterday I was sorting my magazines since they have been in a mess since moving. When I first started quilting I had three very young children so I didn't feel like we could afford to spend money on quilt magazines. For the first several years I only bought magazines from the second hand store for 25 cents. So as I was sorting them yesterday I got caught up in some of the very first ones I bought. I was in hawg heaven! I read articles written by Harriet Hargrave about fabric and thread, articles by Sharyn Craig and Linda Halpin about piecing and design. I had such fun, so much that I ran to my sewing room and started making a block that I saw.

After I got in the big middle of it all, and had fabric all over the floor and magazines everywhere and the whole room in happy chaos I remembered how much I love the "designing" part of quilt making. I love picking the block/blocks. I love picking the fabric. I love deciding how I am going to make it, strip piece, templates (usually not), thangles (NO WAY) Triangulations (Yep!). I love ironing the fabric and getting it all perfect for cutting. I love cutting and making it all perfectly straight. Do you see a pattern of perfection here? I do have a problem with that and if it doesn't come out perfect I tend to get frustrated and sometimes toss it all. Then I start thinking of how glad I am God doesn't expect perfection because I don't want to be tossed aside. Then I usually drag it out of the trash and try to make it look better and use it anyway. I tell you my mind is always hopping from one thing to the next isn't it? :^)

I have always loved that part...so much that I have about 100 UFOs (Un Finished Objects), PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks), PHDs (Projects Half Done) and any other acronym you can come up with, and don't forget the forty some odd quilt tops in the top of the closet waiting to be quilted.

I really need to stop looking in old boxes and magazines. It keeps me in trouble! But it sure makes me smile.

Later

Diane