08.23.07
“A Flying by the Seat of Your Pants” miniature quilt
The miniature quilt above was “born” in the most unconventional of ways. Let me tell you about the inspirations behind it. I was in an antiques store and spotted a fairly large, white box of hexagons (six-sided shapes.) They were still clinging to the paper shapes upon which they had been basted with white thread.
While I was looking through them, at the various colors and designs, I noticed that a green calico one with small motifs. This fabric was pieced over a black and white magazine print image of some official standing on the back of a train. Who was it?
Looking through a magnifying glass, my husband, Jim, and I discovered that the image was that of Harry Truman. A Time magazine article online, “When Politics Rode the Rails,” by Hugh Sidey, tells the story of how Truman made a major campaign sweep across the country, by rail, in 1948, making 356 speeches from the back of the train, and covering 31,700 miles.
I decided that this green fabric was special because of this association. So, I picked out the basting stitches on the larger hexagon shape, and cut much smaller hexagons to create the flower that you see above. Free hand, I added some stems and leaves with embroidery floss, for this abstract creation, and then decided to enclose the motif in an oval.
Undoing a picture frame, I overlaid the glass on top of the flower design in order to draw the shape I wanted. Then I pinned lace around, on the pencil mark, pinning the lace in place and tacking it in place with a yellow chain stitch. Since I’d just purchased some beads, with no particular intent in mind, I added those at intervals, and surprisingly, they were placed in an equidistant manner, all the way around, as you can see.
Next I decided that I wanted embroidered hearts in the corners. I added some borders and a little quilting, and here we are, a mini quilt that means something special to me just because it reminds me of a significant historical event in the history of the United States.
Keep in mind that this quilt seemed to develop on its own. I had no master plan in mind. I was just “tinkering.” Sometimes it is just fun to “play.” I was not making the quilt to enter into a show, or to publish in a magazine, or to be impressive, or to sell. I was simply creating something from the heart so that it could “be,” and for some unknown reason, I had to do it.
Remember to play. It’s good for the soul.
Pat
