Ava's Bird Quilt

I started quilting because I needed to make something that used the embroidered state bird and flower blocks that took me decades to finish. I started the embroidery because of my maternal grandmother who taught me when I was a child.

I am no longer a child. Those times are sweet memories. Yet, something inside me gets childlike whenever I work on these quilts. And while I wanted to have them perfect, what is important is to get them finished. What is most important is my attitude as I do the work.

I made 7 of them; with 15 embroidered state bird & flower blocks, sashing, corner stones and borders on each. I selected fabrics based on each Grandchild's birth month. Ava's is done in pinks tulips, front and back for her March birthday. I decided to use a deco-stitch on my machine and 'stitch-in-the-ditch' with it. One deco stitch is a leaf design. The outside stitch is a wavy line. I've cut the same tulip fabric for the binding. All the threads are clipped, and this one will be finished by the end of the week.

Machine quilting is not an easy part of the work. Part of me considered sending the quilts out for long-arm quilting.

Ava's quilt is almost an experiment to see if I can do the work and if I like how it looks.

I do think that I would like to finish all of them and send them out all at one time. This one will go in the 'finished' bin and wait for the others. That means purchasing the backing fabrics for two blue quilts, getting them all basted and then machine quilted. Maybe. Just maybe, they will all be done before November and be shipped as Winter Solstice gifts. Maybe.

Remembering the real importance of this work, is to be clear and centered when I do it so that the energy put into the quilt is one that is healthy.

It is hard, some days, to find that peace. When someone breaks through my space and brings with them any slightest negativity, my humanity shows up. I resent having my solitude and silence broken, especially when it is unplanned, and in my opinion, not something I want. Then I rear up and get pissy, and even act out my feelings. Most of the time, no one notices what has happened. It just happened and it took me several hours to recover from a few minutes of negative interaction.

I made a plan to deal with the issue and got on it right away. Sigh. Hours to recover from a few minutes. Wow. That is such a common thing when a person experiences any sort of violation. We forget how easy it is to harm or be harmed.

I don't want that in my quilts. I don't put that in my quilts.