quilting story

It began as all good quilts begin, as a pile of squares.  One hundred and twenty-one squares, to be precise.  I know because I cut every. last. one. 

The dining room furniture was displaced in favor of more floor space.  I played a game somewhere between Tetris and Sudoku to get all the squares in place.  No repeats in the same row. 

All the rows got sewn together and numbered, so I could remember what order to put them in.  Is this something that quilters usually do?  I'm not sure- I've never been a quilter before.   I'm really just making this up as I go. 

The numbered rows took a short sabbatical upstairs for about a month.  There were other, more pressing concerns at hand. 

Then, sometime last week, it hit me: the holidays were upon us.  I would be traveling- gasp!- without a travel project. 

I feel a bit panicky about going away for more than a night or two without a travel project.  What if I have too much spare time?  What will I do to be productive?  What if someone forces me to watch TV? 

The sabbatical was over and the quilt project kicked into high gear.  Steve and I chose a backing fabric over the weekend that I found for only $2.55 per yard!  Talk about your chipper chicken. 



Yesterday I moved more furniture.  Why do we not have a permanent, queen-sized empty spot in our house?  Clearly, I'm going to have to rethink the furniture arrangement around here. 

I laid all three layers out on the floor and smoothed smoothed smoothed them.  I bounced a little with excitement. 

Then I scooted around with my box of safety pins and pinned that thing up.  Secure!  No shifting!

And now we can leave.  I've got my quilting hoop, some pearle cotton, and a large needle.  I could forget to pack socks and a toothbrush and I doubt I'd mind one bit (although, come to think of it, my loved ones might mind very much after a day or two). 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.  I hope the holiday finds you doing some of your favorite things.