Search & Discovery

My energy was so high this morning, right after breakfast, before getting dressed, I was standing atop the step stool looking through the highest shelf of the walk-in closet wondering what quilts were stashed there ... [Perhaps standing on step stools and lifting bulky stuff from over my head is not the sanest thing to do less than 3 months after a hip replacement, but all went well] I knew is was the day I was going to wash the flower/dragonfly quilt Leslie slept under when she was here and said she would like to have. Actually I've been sleeping under that quilt so I wanted to find an interesting replacement. I promised to send the quilt when I had another Bea Oglesby Butterflies book. Leslie does not quilt but she embroiders complex designs on jeans jackets.

Well, I found a couple quilts I should never have spent time making. Bad ideas, badly executed. Then I found the whirling star quilt which I had forgotten existed. It's not well quilted but I like it and it's the right weight and size. I'll be sleeping under whirling stars for a while -- will it give me exotic dreams?

I still don't know just what is in a couple of containers way up there. Then I contemplated the top shelves of two other closets, where I found more mysterious containers of quilts, some see-through plastic some not. I didn't haul everything down but did some straightening; Here is a terrible photograph of the quilt I'm sending away taken some time ago when I was afraid to stand on a stool which I should have done to get some perspective. There is no -- as in Zero, Zilch, Zip -- in that corner of the apartment except the wall lamp that gives me light for reading in bed.

I've been taking quilting much more seriously the last three or so years, in terms of color and attention to quilting, but I am not a maker of heirloom quilts. What I do is for my pleasure. I think the wall quilts are nice enough to sell. Most bed sized quilts are utility. I had maybe twice as many for a while. Then a few years ago I sent many, I don't know how many, to Rachel for storage in her attic. I made no record of which ones - I should have. Then came Katarina and a call for quilts from the societies. I sent three that would fit in a box from here and told Rachel to send what she could. As it happened she discovered many displaced persons were at a closed military base on Cape Cod, so she took the whole batch to them. I was a little flummoxed realizing I had no idea what quilts they were. I was happy they had gone to people in need; but I am a diary/record keeper [though sometimes a sloppy one] and I had let that record escape me. Ah well ...

Some surprises remain in these closets and this morning's exploration convinces me I should find a needy charity for a few more, maybe several more quilts. Preferably some distance away where I won't be embarrassed by skimpy quilting and triangle points that got blunted. Suggestion's are welcome.