Sunshine
The Grey Lady Down quilt is finished, and as soon as I have the photos processed, I'll put them up so you can see the results.
Restoring this quilt was a labor of love and misgivings. I'm not in the habit of repairing something simply because it's rare and potentially valuable, but when I put 200 hours into a project, I like to see some return on my investment. If I'm not going to sell the quilt, I need to find a home for it (I have over 200 quilts in my personal collection, and my current, no-exceptions rule is that if I keep something, something else has to go.)
I started out not liking the Grey Lady much, but when I put the last stitch in the new binding, I was in love with her. I couldn't even hate the yellow, because it felt as if the fabric was so determined to be there, right in my face. As if it were saying I don't care if you like me or think I'm appropriate. I'm here. I'm bright. Deal with it.
I also gained a lot of respect for Grey Lady's maker, who you remember I named Gloria. Gloria may not have been a precision quilter, but her imagination and love went into this quilt. I could feel it every time I put hands on it.
I finished repairs about the same time a work deadline descended on me, and so I hand-washed her a second time and hung her to dry on the porch. I got so caught up in work that I forgot about her for a couple of days. Then one night I went in to say good night to my son and found him wrapped up in her.
"You stealing my quilts now?" I asked him.
"I like this one, Mom," he told me, snuggling under it. It was the perfect size for his bed, which is a full, not a twin. "Can I have it?"
I eyed his favorite quilt, a Mariner's Compass pattern a friend of mine made for him when he was two. He loves the mariner quilt so much it goes on vacation with us, and yet he'd tossed it over in a heap on his computer chair. "What about your old quilt?"
"You have lots of quilts," he said, very reasonably. "Why can't I?"
I thought about it. I don't have any rules about the kids have quilt collections, and Mike only has four of his own besides the much-loved mariner's quilt. "Okay, but I need to sign it, and it needs a new name. What do we call a quilt with all this yellow in it?"
His answer: Sunshine
Restoring this quilt was a labor of love and misgivings. I'm not in the habit of repairing something simply because it's rare and potentially valuable, but when I put 200 hours into a project, I like to see some return on my investment. If I'm not going to sell the quilt, I need to find a home for it (I have over 200 quilts in my personal collection, and my current, no-exceptions rule is that if I keep something, something else has to go.)
I started out not liking the Grey Lady much, but when I put the last stitch in the new binding, I was in love with her. I couldn't even hate the yellow, because it felt as if the fabric was so determined to be there, right in my face. As if it were saying I don't care if you like me or think I'm appropriate. I'm here. I'm bright. Deal with it.
I also gained a lot of respect for Grey Lady's maker, who you remember I named Gloria. Gloria may not have been a precision quilter, but her imagination and love went into this quilt. I could feel it every time I put hands on it.
I finished repairs about the same time a work deadline descended on me, and so I hand-washed her a second time and hung her to dry on the porch. I got so caught up in work that I forgot about her for a couple of days. Then one night I went in to say good night to my son and found him wrapped up in her.
"You stealing my quilts now?" I asked him.
"I like this one, Mom," he told me, snuggling under it. It was the perfect size for his bed, which is a full, not a twin. "Can I have it?"
I eyed his favorite quilt, a Mariner's Compass pattern a friend of mine made for him when he was two. He loves the mariner quilt so much it goes on vacation with us, and yet he'd tossed it over in a heap on his computer chair. "What about your old quilt?"
"You have lots of quilts," he said, very reasonably. "Why can't I?"
I thought about it. I don't have any rules about the kids have quilt collections, and Mike only has four of his own besides the much-loved mariner's quilt. "Okay, but I need to sign it, and it needs a new name. What do we call a quilt with all this yellow in it?"
His answer: Sunshine
posted by SKelly at
9:16 AM
