Comes all the way back around...
When my wonderful friend Carey got married a few years back, her sister-in-law-to-be sent every wedding guest instructions for making a quilt square, which she assembled and presented to Carey and Michael at the wedding. I thought this was a wonderful idea, as it gave me an opportunity to use some very cool fabric that connected me to Carey in a deeply meaningful way. In true crafter form, I had been hoarding that fabric for many years. Here's Carey's finished quilt (My square is 4th from the top in the far right column):
So when my very incredible friend Lydia got married last year, I decided that I would initiate a quilt project for her. It was more work than I imagined... I had never made a quilt of that magnitude before, and I didn't expect that so many people would interpret my instructions as... well... as loosely as they did. 12 inch by 12 inch squares came back as 10x12 or 11x11 or 14x14 or something very far removed from a square and closer to a parallelogram. But it was a great project nonetheless, and Lydia and her husband Gera professed to love the finished product:
Several months later, when I jumped on the wedding bandwagon, Lydia offered to do the same for me. I tried to warn her that it was loads of work but she was not to be dissuaded. Viola! This is the fruit of her labor... as well as the labor of many crafty family members and friends, of course.
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Isn't it great? As you can well imagine, each square captures a story and relationship(s). Bonus points for those of you can figure out which square Carey made for me.
And yes, for those of you who were wondering... that is a Justin Timberlake reference at the beginning of the post. T.S. Eliot (1948) argued that high culture and popular culture are both necessary components for a complete culture. While I'm sure I could provide a much more intellectually stimulating quote on karma, you've gotta admit that this is a catchy song.
What Goes Around lyrics
2 comments:
As one of 2 fortunate owners of the quilt in the middle, I have to say, Rachel, I love your blog and the 'community-quilting' idea was very cool. It scared the bejeebies out of me to make yours, but once it was done it brought me a lot of joy to see all these very different shapes of fabric from your friends and family come together. You all should try it!
Thanks Lydia! That reminds me... Lydia and I both used a set of directions originally created by Carey's sister-in-law, Adina. If anyone wants an electronic version of them, please e-mail me and I'll send them to you. ~Rachel
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