a year and a half later...

Summer of 2009.
It was the summer before my senior year, the second summer that I wouldn't be at Camp Tecumseh, and the first summer that my friends from Camp would be working on staff.  To make matters worse, Michelle was going for two weeks, which left me home alone for two weeks, while so many people I cared about were having the time of their life at the best place on earth.  So I decided to do something to keep my mind off of things and keep myself busy.  I wish I could remember what made me decide on this, but I decided to make a quilt.  This is what it looked like in August 2009.

It also looked like that until Christmas break of the same year when I made slight progress.  I pulled all of my materials out again this past summer and actually made significant progress.  I took the fabric squares and stitched them together so that there were only four separate pieces of fabric.  But then I had to go to college, which made sewing difficult.  Actually, it became totally impossible because Drake does not provide their students with a sewing machine in their dorm.

So when I was back home for a month and four days, after three weeks I remembered this quilt.  So I went at it one day, and finished the entire front side.  Then I needed to figure out how to make this "sheet" (for lack of a better word) into an actual quilt.  My mom helped me out and introduced me to one of her ex-co-workers' wife, Val, who is a master quilter.  Val is so knowledgeable when it comes to quilts and she was so eager to help me, which I loved.  So I went over to her home on Saturday, and she helped me figure out that I needed a border, a back side, how to "stitch in the ditch," what quilter's pins are, and that binding is essential.  I went back to her house this morning, after doing hours of work at home since Saturday, and she helped me do all the binding and finish my quilt.

It's so amazing and I feel so accomplished and I actually really like it and I think it's pretty impressive for the first quilt I've ever made.  Ever.  I'm so thankful that Val was so willing to help me and had so much wisdom to impart to me.

When I was getting ready to leave she said, "I'm so glad you let me help you and teach you what I know.  It's important for us quilters to pass on our knowledge to younger generations in order to keep the craft alive." I didn't think anything of it... until I was driving home.  By saying this, Val made me realize that I need to think about what I want to pass on to younger people.  I need to think about and figure out what I'm going to be passionate about and what I want to share with other people.  I think I want my life to be an example.