Everybody needs a little help at times. Even if it’s something they love to do. Such as making quilts. My wife has been making quilts for many years now. She says her first quilt was an ABC quilt she made after our second son was born, in the 1980s. She had more time for quilt projects after the kids left. I have taken her to quilt shops and quilt shows for many years, and she has been a member of her church’s quilt club since about 1990. (I tell people we have been married “well over five years.” Sometimes I stress “well.”) So when we learned that we would be getting our first grandchild late this year, a baby quilt was a given. She spent a lot of time looking through pattern books and quilt magazines and then deciding which of the millions of fabrics she has would be just right. And, of course, she had to find out whether it will be a boy or girl. They can do that now--find out whether the baby will be a boy or girl long before birth. When we had our kids, we found out the old-fashioned way. (Yeah, _well_ over five years. We were so convinced we were going to have a girl for our second child. We even had a name picked out: Angela Christine. I’m sure David would be highly amused to read that.) Anyway … I’m getting sidetracked … intensive work started on the baby quilt. She assembled the squares that then would be sewn together. Then she put on the batting and created the back and the binding. All that she did by herself. But for the final part of the work--the stitching on the back--a quilting assistant volunteered her services. This quilting assistant is Charlie, one of our cats. As you see, Charlie came over and closely supervised the final work. She and Mom have been working on quilts together for a long time. Another photo shows Charlie sort of helping next to her. This was just after she joined our family, back in early 2008. Charlie loves quilts. Let’s say it’s a Sunday afternoon in fall, and my wife and I are sitting on the couch, watching the Green Bay Packers. If it’s getting a little cool, maybe I will spread a quilt over our legs for a little extra warmth. When Charlie sees that quilt on my lap, start your stopwatch. She is on my lap, curling up for a nap, in a matter of seconds. And she can lie there and sleep for hours. My legs get stiff. I have to get to the bathroom. “Uhh, Charlie … ?” That quilt stays in the living room now, off on the side, and Charlie curls up in it sometimes in the evening when one of us is watching TV. That is Charlie’s quilt. But if we are feeling a little cool and want to borrow it … that’s fine. As long as she gets to enjoy it, too.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:15:42 +0000
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