I finished five commissioned quilts this month. Two were for a baby, while three were throw sized. All were crafted from nostalgic clothes. Cutting shapes from sleeves and pajama pants is less straightforward than using a rotary blade on crisp, unwrinkled fabric. In fact, I can chop all five hundred triangles for a One Block Wonder in less than an hour, with such a paucity of scraps they fit in a cereal bowl. But wrestling with flannel shirts and dresses took much more time.  Plus, the unused parts of jeans and sweaters filled a box almost too big to fit in my back seat, to return to the owner. The trick is finding areas of usable cloth from clothes that have been designed to curve around shoulders and hips. 

 

The two baby quilts were similar, with the same design and gorgeous fabric. It took a few days to find my bearings, but I was happy with the result. Then when I started the second one I went faster, and the whole process was easier. I was right proud of it. 

 

Similarly, the first of the throw sized quilts challenged me. The person asking for it wanted a plaid design, which I have never tried. Never thought to try. John made me a chart for color placement, but I was confused and had to look six times to be sure what to sew together. I still had to seam rip a bunch. 

 

The second in the set went more smoothly, in terms of my confusion, and the third was better still. I almost wanted to start a fourth, but my own Christmas preparations had waited long enough. 

 

Even with such a small sample, I was delighted to have climbed a learning curve. It occurred to me that the Creator has been at it for much longer. I wouldn't venture to guess how many humans He has joined together, but it reassured me that He knows the process.