Contraband Quilts

Before your imagination sets sail on a fantastic adventure of a black market quilt industry and shady back alley blanket transactions, I must set the record straight. I never really smuggled quilts...just the secret that I made them.

I can't help but mull this over in my mind each time I'm piecing together a new quilt. The nature of the craft fuels contemplation. It brings me so much joy most the time...though each quilt eventually accumulates yards of misquilted mess needing a seam-ripper and knee pads to fix. I only make baby quilts now; I have neither the time nor the space to sacrifice to a large project. Nor do I have a $10,000 long-arm quilting machine, as my hands would soon be disabled by carpal tunnel issues. Knowing a tiny, precious babe will be wrapped up and soothed in the bits of fabric I'm assembling is medicine for my soul. And as I sew my mind travels back in time to the first few quilts I made. And then to the period when I stopped pursuing what I truly enjoyed...and stopped sewing.

"I've made quilts since I was 15," is a phrase that never crossed my lips as I started to date. The introductory questions about hobbies and activities were answered briefly by me, from what I can remember. Apparently my answers were so brief it prompted one young man to declare me a mystery. If you only knew, you'd have nothing to do with me! In my mind I had enough stigma attached to me already because of the known fact that I was homeschooled. And shy. I felt everyone's eyes on me, waiting for me to say or do the one uncool thing that would seal the "weird homeschooler" stereotype for me. I couldn't help thinking are you asking me out because you lost a bet?

"Hi. My name is Julie. I like to quilt and embroider for fun. And draw book report covers. I read three books a week. I love Jane Austen, I'm so upset I can't find her 'Lady Susan.' I've read all of L.M. Montgomery's books five times over, especially 'Mistress Pat.' I really like classical and folk music. Really. Especially pieces heavy with violin and cello. I have pen-pals, they're my only friends. And sheep, my family raises them. I want to be a vet. No, no military for me, a veterinarian. Or an architect, because I can spend hours looking at blueprints and have my dream house already designed. But I'm horrible at math. I love playing football, especially "barbarian", softball, and basketball on rollerblades. Hmm? No, I don't want to be single forever."

It's always cool to be artistic, right? Well, I thought so...unless it was your grandma's brand of art. (I have fond memories of both my Grandmas spending hours quilting.) I'm pretty sure I came to this conclusion after mentioning quilting to a fellow high-school-homeschooled girl on one of our field trips. Even she gave me a weird look. Mental note taken. From then on my hobbies were described in this way: "I like to read and draw and paint," (acceptable artistic pursuits, right?) "And I love animals."

The way our lives can morph around the opinions of others is deplorable. As much as we're preached at to disregard what others think of us, that pull always seems to be lurking in the background. The formative years hold the most risk for us to become captive of the desire to be accepted by our peers. While this desire in me has faded, the realization that it isn't completely gone inspires a desire for peers that more closely mirror the person I want to be. And I can finally embrace my weirdness with joy. Thankfully for me, at the time I met my future husband I had no desire to control his opinion of me. In all honesty I didn't care what he thought, and therefore I was open and honest about what I really liked and disliked. When none of it scared him away, I knew there was something to it. I finally resumed quilting after my third son was born.

I started small, making doll quilts for little girls I babysat, and baby quilts for newborn cousins. I sewed a winter wall hanging for a friend for Christmas. I was so proud of my applique work on it I never even thought it may have been a strange gift to give a 16 year old. I even sewed a baby quilt for my future daughter, which has sat folded in my cedar chest for 17 years now. It may have to rest for another 17 waiting for a granddaughter. Only God knows! I hoarded quilting magazines from my aunt, a talented seamstress (who also did the alterations to my wedding dress).  I would scour thrift stores for piles of fabric weeded from the stashes of fellow crafters...or from those who had passed away and no longer needed it. It always got me thinking what the story could have been behind the discarded material. Some stacks had entire quilts worth of blocks already cut out. Some where apparently used for a failed project, pieces partially cut out and abandoned. Among collections of organized fabric remnants with complementary hues I found gorgeous vintage pieces mixed with teeth-grindingly cheap polyester scraps that were probably some woman's worn out pants at some point.

Not all quilts were documented with photos, but I've found a few. A little pictorial history of my quilts:

First doll quilt ~ 1997

Very wrinkly from being folded, and the edges pucker because the backing fabric is stretchy. It also was never quilted. This is my first baby quilt, made from hankies and scraps, for my imaginary daughter. :) ~ 1997

First full-sized quilt ~ 1997 The boys still use it.

The map on the right, above my bed, was of the Unites States; it had a pushpin for where each of my 22 pen-pals lived.

Baby quilt/pillow; applique & cross-stitch ~ 1998

The one and only wall-hanging ~ 1999

The last big quilt I sewed. Queen-sized, I never even sewed the backing on ~ 1998-?

This is the baby quilt that rekindled my desire to quilt. I forgot to snap a photo after it was finished for a friend, but here it is all laid out ~ 2011

It took me 4 whole years to make another quilt. I blogged about making this baby quilt here. 

~ May 2015

This is a peek at my process of choosing a color scheme. Lots of fabric thrown all over, colors discarded, new ones added, trying to get it how I see it in my mind.

Options weeded down, is the purple too loud for this quilt? Yes, yes it is.

Finished product; this baby quilt was made completely from scrap fabric I've hoarded in totes. The pink backing fabric was what was leftover from the pink shamrock blanket (pictured above) I made back in 1998. I think this is my favorite so far.

~ October 2015

Fabric totes

Fabric stashes

Fabric piles. Oh my. 

I could stare at piles of fabric for hours. Hehe I get lost in fabric stores.

AND finally, for your viewing pleasure, these all made me laugh out loud. 

This one's for you, CMJ ;)