Friday, October 04, 2013

31 Days - Day 4: Housewarming

When I was just out of college I began attending a smallish Bible church here in town. It was a warm, caring, close knit but welcoming group - the kind of community a church should be, but I've not found quite duplicated anywhere else to date.

I volunteered to serve as one of the Sunday School teachers for the two year old class (I was twenty-two, flexible and patient - all qualities I no longer possess in the quantities necessary to teach that age). Our Sunday School superintendent and her family practically adopted me, having me over for dinner, inviting me to sit with them for church and at church functions.

All good things eventually end, though, and they ended up building a home out near Holy Hill on the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine. The house was built at the end of a long, uphill driveway, a log home heated solely by a potbellied stove and massive fireplace. They seeded the front lawn with wildflowers. The back of the house had a wide, full width covered porch facing a small patch of grass and a wood.

Naturally, I turned to fabric for a housewarming gift. This time, a small wallhanging.

Mularkey's Goose in the Pond
The center block in the quilt (the brown and blue triangles are the outer bounds of that block) is a traditional Goose in the Pond block. My Bible study leader from that same church had a stunning example of a quilt from that pattern up on her wall, a truly traditional blue and white only quilt. I still want to make one in red and white.

Anyway...that Goose in the Pond quilt block is set "on point" - turned on the diagonal. by adding triangles to each side (the half lily triangles, in this case - blue and tan and ecru), the "on point" block turns back into an upright square. The striped border with ninepatch cornerstones is next, followed by a wild goose chase border.

This was made around 1985, of poly/cotton blend fabrics. The pattern was a purchased one, and I do believe this was my first attempt at a "scrap" pattern (though if you look closely, it's pretty obvious I carefully planned out where each and every piece of fabric should go - I may have had some control issues back then - I promise, I'm much more haphazard these days (and like it)). Once again, puffy polyester batting and hand quilting.

One of the things I liked most about hand quilting is the time it took. There is only so fast you can go with a needle and thread. During a good portion of the time it took to hand quilt a gift, I prayed for the recipients. While I still pray for people as I machine quilt, my attention is much more divided, as I have to control the fabric movement under a very, very quickly moving needle.

The Mularkeys have since moved out of state, but every time I see this picture, it brings back all the warm memories of time spent with them.

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