STRONG STURDY HANDS

Recently my grand daughter Eliana asked me to teach her to sew. You see, I take sewing very seriously and this eight-year-old knew she could not find a better teacher than her grandmother. I have a state of the art sewing room filled with all the latest gadgets. In fact, my sewing room is like a museum. Proudly displayed is my mother’s Singer sewing machine (which is older than me). I also have my Godmothers old Singer sewing machine which was probably her mothers’ machine because it has the large metal foot base. This was one of the first machines used in sewing however you did have to pump the foot base back and forth to get the machine to sew a stitch. On my walls I have framed old original sewing patterns that date back to the 1930’s. I also have proudly displayed on the wall an Artist Proof picture by Alonzo Adams. This picture has a woman quilting who has a spot-on resemblance to my Aunt Tina. Ironically, the Artist named the picture, “Strong Steady hands” because back in those days all quilts were made by hand.

Needless to say, I always tell everyone that I was taught to sew by the best! My mother. My mother could sew anything. She made all my dresses for school. Back then, good material was fifty cent a yard. She could make pillows, crochet, upholstery furniture and make curtains that looked as if they came off the cover of a Home Interior magazine. However, what this amazing woman made best was her hand made quilts. She always told me, “It takes strong sturdy hands and good creative skills to sew a quilt. You see a quilt has always been a work of art. A quilt represented a true work of love. My mother would save scraps of material, old dresses, or any old piece of clothing to comprise her quilts. Everyone that knows me, also knows you must be someone close to my heart to receive one of my quilts. My son was offered $5,000 for the quilt I made for him. I generally hand embroider all my quilts with a well thought out message of love. The quilt that you see on my picture, is one of the quilts that basically went around the world. I know you are asking yourself; how can a quilt go around the world? As I mentioned earlier, I hand embroider every detail on my quilts. All the intricate stitches you must make when you hand embroider takes time and each stitch must be meticulously placed. This my friends, does require strong sturdy hands. Good eyesight and good lighting help too!

Quilting is my passion, and it is also my therapy; especially on those challenging days that life tends to throw my way. I can get so wrapped up in quilting until I will look up and it is 2:00 in the morning.

The interesting thing about this one quilt that went around the world was that it took me a full year to embroider and complete. I started the quilt in January because the quilt was going to be a Christmas gift for my son. This year I was making two quilts. My strong intuition (sixth sense) was heavy on my heart, and I felt this would be the last Christmas I would spend with one of these two individuals. Both were awfully close to me, and I knew in my heart this would be our last Christmas together. It was especially important to me to express this one last gift of love. Carefully I designed both quilts. I drew each pattern by hand and began the long journey to have both quilts completed by Christmas.

This particular year was an unusual year of traveling for me. I kept my quilting pieces with me a long with scissors, hoops, and plenty of embroidery floss. People were so inquisitive on all my flights and invariably would strike up long lengthy conversations about the uniqueness of each of my quilts. I was excited about my trip to Paris France. I took plenty of supplies with me. I knew I had a total of over 16 hours round trip; and that I could get a lot of work done (which I did). I made a few lifelong friends on my flights because I found out there were a lot of people out there that quilt. Of course, there were a lot of people who also desired to start quilting.

My first quilt was for my son. My son had just pledged to be an Omega which was a fraternity which I must admit; I strongly disagreed with. Being the typical mother; my main objection was I did not want him to have his arm branded with their infamous “Q” insignia. I was afraid it may become infected. Just between you and I, I did not want him to disfigure his arm. However, what eventually changed my mind was the brotherhood, love, devotion, and outreach to the community this fraternity demonstrated. I hold them all in the highest regards. This was my first and only Omega SI Phi quilt. I had to purchase several pictures and puzzles to draw my first pattern. The pattern consisted of a shield of armor, a wreath, and a helmet. Once I was satisfied with the pattern, I then enlarged the pattern pieces to accommodate the size of the quilt. The wreath was the most detailed and time-consuming part to embroider. It took forever; one herringbone stitch at a time. Unfortunately, yet it was to my good fortune; my son discovered his quilt skillfully placed out on my sewing table. He was incredibly pleased. His discovery of his Christmas gift was a blessing for me because I had several of the pieces in the wrong place. He quickly corrected everything, and the quilt turned out to be one of my greatest masterpieces.

My second quilt was for my sister. My sister was a church member like no other. Please do not ask me to explain this statement (wait on the movie). I gathered several of her favorite scriptures and drew pictures that were appropriate to envision each scripture. I placed each one around the centerpiece statement; “ A Sister is a Gift from God”; then the tedious task of embroidering her quilt began. It was my passion for quilting and the self determination I had to complete both quilts. As I stated earlier, I knew this would be the last Christmas I would spend with my sister or my son. I did not know, who of the three of us would not be alive for the next Christmas. The look on her face on Christmas day 1997 , as she opened her gift will live in my heart forever. She held and stroked that quilt with the kind of love you would hold a newborn baby with. It was hard for the relatives present to believe I made the quilt. My sister said unquestionably, “this is her handwriting! She definitely made this quilt”. I always make my patterns with the script of my own handwriting. It is one of my other unique brands for most of my quilts.

Everyone was so please with their quilts that year. Unfortunately, I lost my sister on April 30,1998. She became ill and quickly succumbed to her illness. I do have the memory of that quilt and the short-lived happiness it gave her. She also knew that only special people to me received a quilt. It has been over twenty years that she has been gone. No one knows what happened to that quilt. I have asked all her children and grandchildren. I do not want it back; I just want to make sure it is well cared for and loved. To this day I have made over a 100 hand made quilts. Each one a masterpiece. Each one unique! Each one made from love! In other words, these remarkable quilts are priceless to the receivers because we all know love is the greatest gift of all! There is no price greater than the love that we give to our fellow man.