Greenback Dollar

Nine years ago, my life exponentially improved because I learned how to quilt. Nine years in human years is the age of a third grader, however I believe that craft years are more akin to dog years and that (only in regard to the level of my quilting skills) I’m actually in the blossoming stage of early adulthood, ready to be completely on my own and full of optimism about what my quilting future holds.

Each of my four significant moves has also corresponded with the adoption of distinct and lifelong crafts in my new hometown: in Portland I picked up knitting/crochet, in eastern Oregon I found quilting, in SW Colorado I discovered modern quilting (including improvisation, art quilting and natural dyes) and lastly now in central Washington I’m learning how to sew clothes. Looking at this pattern suggests that there must be something about profound change that really inspires me to pick up a new hobby. Of course I could have taken up these practices at any time in my life, it just happens that each came into my life when I needed it the most.

There is a lot of overlap with the above crafts and yet they are all unique in their own ways. My primary motivation for learning how to quilt is that I really love blankets. Another (laughably naïve) motivation was that I thought quilting would be faster than knitting. At the time, there was a serious baby boom amongst my friends and I believed that if I could quilt, I could make more baby blankets. Coming in to quilting, I had a basic understanding of sewing and sewing machines having made several pillows and curtains, two stuffed animals (a whale and a walrus!) in 7th grade Home Ec and a very transparent linen skirt that was never worn and has since been recycled into quilts. Despite this background, I found quilting to be hard; not frustrating, just a legitimate challenge. I was fortunate to learn from the best teachers one could ask for and the foundation they provided me is why I have been successful. I am amazed by people who are self-taught or learned watching YouTube clips. Not me, I need all of the handholding!

My first project was the pea quilt which is loved not only because it is my firstborn, but also because it was made during an important life experience when I worked in an elementary school and dubbed my students “sweet peas”. This quilt provided me with ample comfort when said “sweet peas” shared their germs with me or when the challenges of working in a highly impacted school overwhelmed me. After the completion of the pea quilt, I was smitten and dove right in to everything quilty including a sampler/block of the month. For the non-quilters, a sampler or BOM is a project where you make one different block each month (see the Beatles quilt) and over the course of a year, create a quilt of twelve different blocks. These projects are excellent skill builders and it also allows you to learn what you do, and do not, like to make.

Greenback Dollar is the result of my first sampler and had a life before this iteration. I moved seven months into the sampler yet wanted to put my completed blocks to good use, so I added an 8th block (a leftover oops from another quilt) and some borders and voila, a closet curtain. The curtain was both cute and functional and I kept it with plans to repurpose. And then a few days after my arrival and subsequent unpacking in Washington, I got a wonderfully random text from a friend (and one of my original quilting teachers) saying that while clearing out her sewing room, she came across an envelope with my name containing the ingredients for the remaining blocks. Did I want them? Oohh, yes please Heather! It was amazing how quickly the remaining 5 blocks came together now that I am more fluent in piecing. I whittled my time down from over an hour per block to about 20 minutes apiece. It took me WAY longer to dismantle the old curtain with my seam ripper than to sew up the new blocks!

Greenback Dollar was made for a beloved super pal who happens to love old stuff. It the perfect quilt for her since it is made from all reproduction fabric (aka civil war fabric) based on historical designs. I find reproduction fabric very interesting because of the backstory. When I first started quilting, reproduction fabric was my jam and although my style has changed over the years, I still harbor a deep appreciation for these traditional fabrics. Old quilts were made from whatever fabric was around so it is very intentional that this looks like a scrappy antique. To amplify that scrappy aesthetic, the sashing and borders are mismatched and the binding is made from the pink and brown remnants of the closet curtain. I also added little 9-patches out of scraps as cornerstones to the quilt just because. The whole piece is hand quilted using a dusty blue thread in horizontal lines about 2″ apart. If you really want to spend a lot of time under a quilt, hand quilting is for you! The blue plaid back is an homage to my recently departed bonus grandpa Floyd and to people who love plaid. Once the quilt was delivered in person, it was immediately put to good use and Otis approved!

The quilt’s owner and I met through our partners who played in a old-time bluegrass band together. We had an instant connection and ever since have spent so much time together, we are family. Since we essentially met through old-timey bluegrass, the musical accompaniment was obvious. There is genuine surprise when people learn that bluegrass (both the traditional and new age jammy versions) isn’t my favorite music. I enjoy it (in small doses) and appreciate it, but it has never been something I gravitate to. There were years when many a weekend night was spent in living rooms and backyards while the friends jammed. And yet even after all the inundation, I remain a total neophyte; I know just enough to hold a few minutes of conversation (or write a blog post – ha!). One thing I do know is that Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs are pretty awesome. And lucky duck me, my husband has a trio of albums transferred from vinyl to cd with all of those wonderful pops, crackles and snaps. I followed this collection up with a bunch of Foghorn Stringband albums featuring the amazing Caleb Klauder, who even this non-bluegrasser can binge. Greenback Dollar is named for a Foghorn song (riffed off of a traditional song) that was on heavy rotation in the repertoire. Since this is hand quilted, there was ample stichin’ and listenin’ time so I finished with a gaggle of Cajun albums because that is my kind of string band (plus accordion) music and I believe there is a lot of overlap between the way that old-time bluegrass and Cajun are played – groups of folks in living rooms and yards playing and passing down the traditional tunes.

Every quilt I make is a completely unique experience and Greenback Dollar is no exception. Seeing my beginner work makes me proud because I had very precise 1/4″ seams back in the day! (Possibly even better than I do now because I was so focused on “doing it right”.) I am sure that had I finished the quilt years ago, the outcome and design would have been very different. At this stage in my quilting career, I enjoy creating my own design — I can look at a pile of fabric and blocks and see something and then execute that vision. I am also more confident in my color choices then I was in the beginning. It is amazing what can happen in 9 years! I am forever grateful for this craft called quilting and for lifelong friends I can wrap up in blankets.

Albums listened to: Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard Pioneering Women of Bluegrass; Flatt & Scruggs Columbia Recordings – 1957-1961, Columbia Recordings 1962-1963, The Complete Mercury Sessions; Foghorn Duo Lonesome Song; Foghorn Stringband Boombox Squaredance, Rattlesnake Tidal Wave, Devil in the Seat; The GreenBillies Extra Hot; Red Stick Ramblers Made in the Shade; Pine Leaf Boys Blues de Musicien, La Musique and Lost Bayou Ramblers Kalenda.