Patchwork

by Pat Antonopoulos

Quilting.
Actually, machine quilting.
Tried hand quilting and learned that arthritis precludes making those tiny stitches. Plus there is my perpetual problem of learning to sit still for longer periods of time. Machine quilting gave me a bit of a creative outlet and a chance to learn a new skill.

A couple of years later we are many quilts cozier, and family closets are well supplied with winter warmth. The unwelcome side effect is several drawers filled with unmatched, unrelated fabric pieces. The new challenge is to use the fabric to create a quilt that isn't hodge-podge ugly, but rather one that resembles a planned project.

Shades and designs in reds, purples, blues yellows, blacks and whites separated in heaps and batches covered the sewing area. Florals, geometrics, pirates, bears, bunnies, beautiful scraps of a huge variety of patterns resist a theme of quick description. Each piece of material is important because it represents the loved one for whom it was chosen. So I walked away from this for several days and waited for something to gel, a idea to take this from a mini-mess to a beautiful project.

In those intervening day, I attended a funeral service for a dear friend, enjoyed a Mother's Day celebration, accepted the chair position of another volunteer activity, and helped with a graduation ceremony. Out of town family phoned for extended problem solving conversations and I cared for a grandson. A local institution, Rainy Day Books, accepted Four Ordinary Women for an author event on July 30. Together, my husband and I planned for family visits during the summer as we continued the day to day routines of our life together.

The 'quilt' theme slipped quietly into a moment of passing as I came in from yard work.

It isn't the separate events that hold us together, but rather the binding of those events---the values that tie---family, good friendships, commitment, perseverance, hard work, a solid belief system, determination, giving back and caring. The bits and piece of the ordinary combine and are shaped to become something both comforting and beautiful---the quilt of my life.

Now I will have the fun of selecting that perfect piece of fabric to outline and bind my hodge-podge into something beautiful, something to remind me of the extraordinary people in my life.