How to Make an American Quilt

(Originally posted in Facebook on June 13, 2019)

Still no word on the job front for M, but no bad news either – so we’ll take the status quo and keep plugging along. I know he’s not happy with what he’s doing, but it’s a job and a paycheck. There’s a lot to be said for that.

Last night, I was continuing to work on a quilt that I inherited from my grandmother when she died in 2006. She didn’t sew, so it must have come from her mother or grandmother. I’ll never know. Over the years, several pieces of material that make up the quilt have just worn out and need to be replaced. It was hand sewn and hand quilted, so I’ve been taking out the stitching to start replacing the pieces that have disintegrated.

As I was doing this, and we were watching TV, M looked at me and asked me what I was doing. I explained all this to him weeks ago when I first started taking the stitching out. He’s watched me do it, off and on, for weeks now. But last night, I had to explain it again.

Okay.

I guess I’d better get used to that.

To add insult to injury, as I got finished taking out all the stitching that made up the “quilting” part of the quilt, I realized that A LOT more pieces of this quilt (say quilt one more time) are going to have to be replaced than I originally thought. They’re all 1″ x 1″ squares and the vast majority of them are very thin and I can tell they will wear out soon just with normal wear and tear. I love using this quilt, so I guess if I want to use it, I’m practically making a new quilt, whether I wanted to or not. Since I’ve used up all my vacation days, “how did you spend your summer” has now taken on a new meaning.