Eight Become Great

Hanging with my Brother

The year 2017 has begun and today as I entered the sewing room I noticed 8 pieces of fabric that seemed rather sad. “Why so blue?” I said, well besides the fact that you are blue in color. They explained that their life began as happy members of the Northcott family and went to live in a wonderful warehouse in Missouri that even had a star on it. They were shipped here to Webster, NY and felt like they were being born as they burst happily from the shipping bag. They enjoyed life on a shelf watching the comings and goings of projects throughout 2016. They got very hopeful when their stack of 40 went to the sewing room. They were to join the pictures that Prince Parker had made and become a lap quilt for his Oma. They watched as others were lifted off the pile and were sewn together with the beautiful crayon drawings. But all of the sudden the quilt was finished and they were left behind. They were not needed in this project. They got pushed to the back of the table as Christmas projects came and went. They heard that they may be taken to “the stash” and they did not know what or where this was. They had not seen it but were afraid that it may be a cult. They heard of many fabrics going there years ago that had never returned to see daylight.

Eight squares face to face

Cut corner to corner

As I saw these eight pieces of fabric, I had an idea. I had just read about a fabric challenge based on the number eight. I told the fabric squares that if they trusted me they may still have a chance to become something great. I told them they must go two by two to see the Brother, but must face each other and not look upon the Brother. Wait they said,  “are you the Brother’s keeper?” “Yes, I am my Brother’s keeper,” I said. This was an honor entrusted to me when I visited the great Jackie Lynn at the meeting of elders in Syracuse, NY this past year (the AQS show).

HST Half Square Triangles

Time to spin

The squares of fabric went to the Brother, two by two, right sides together and were sewn on all four sides. “Wait, how will we see the light of day this way?” said the squares. After a quick encounter with Ironman, the squares received two cuts from the Brother’s keeper, running corner to corner. They flopped open and suddenly realized they had become half square triangles. Again they were sad, because they were just half square triangles and looked much the same as each other. But the keeper told them to spin into different patterns and the Brother would make them into beautiful blocks. The blocks were afraid again since they were told they could not look upon the Brother. The keeper reassured them it was OK to look at the Brother, he was just joking before.

Auditioning Fabric

As the keeper auditioned beautiful fabrics to join the blocks, they were concerned that they should not be joined to other fabrics that did not come from the Northcott family. The keeper told them that many fabrics could live together in harmony if they were just given a chance. As the project came together, there was just one more request the blocks wanted to come together in the shape of an eight to remember where they came from. 

Throughout this journey with these pieces of fabric, the keeper was reminded of a lovely, local quilter named Zelpha. They had crossed paths many years earlier and she told the keeper of her story quilts. She had told stories, like Little Red Riding Hood, in quilts with textures for children to touch as she told the story. This is not to the extent of Zelpha’s quilts but it has become a fun story based on the making of a little quilt. The finished wall hanging is 15 1/2 inches wide by 20 inches tall. Eight blue squares turned into four blocks with eight triangles in each block surrounded by a big 8. This project started a 8 am this morning and I started writing the blog at 8 pm tonight.