We Count

All of us learned to count as youngsters. Most of us take for granted our counting skills. And yet, it reminds me of how we count or matter to each other. Love from someone else heals us as it acknowledges our existence, assuring us that our presence is valued by someone else. We count on each other. Distance doesn't matter. We can be together with just a memory, just a thought, just by sending positive energy and support. 

I am still working on those two scrappy MQs that will serve as backs on a couple of quilts. Once the pattern was completed, it was left to me to come up with final placements. The suggestion was to follow pictures and lay it out in whatever way works for the ways the fabric was cut. 

That layout being done, the small 4.5" blocks need to be pinned, pieced and pressed row by row. I had a bad experience a few years back trying to keep the blocks and rows together. That quilt was laid out on a diagonal and as I picked things up, I must have twisted blocks, and a few of them had to be ripped and pieced again. 

I could see that rows needed to be counted & tried using post-it-notes, which came off in the shuffle of things. I knew these numbered pins existed but had no luck finding them. One day, a package came in the mail for my birthday from someone I dearly love. It was this round of Marilee's Numbered Q-Pins. 

Now, I can pin up to 20 consecutive rows and start over if I need to use another round of numbers. I can even use the pins to help me count on a couple of projects going at the same time. This MQ back has 12 rows to it (unless I add more before doing the borders). Once the rows are done, the points to the blocks need to be matched so it will just take time and patience. It is at that stage, the counting pins will be returned to their round container.

Keeping track of the smaller pieces or rows on a quilt makes the bigger piece easier to work with and finish. I can see how all the people in my life who have mattered to me from the time I was born to now make up who I am. They count, I count, we count.