Making my life simpler is a continuous, and ever evolving, goal of mine. I get a lot of joy in living simply, enjoying the small things and minimizing my impact on this planet. As anyone who has ever worked with me knows, I am also all about efficiency. Time and resources are precious, folks! I am most content when I whittle my life down to a more thoughtful existence. And since I am posting this missive on the big, scary internet, here is my disclaimer: I am very privileged to be able to choose to live simply. For the majority of the planet, living in a simple manner (according to the ideals of our industrialized, capitalist society) is just life; it is necessity. So being able to pursue a pared down life as an option, is a true luxury.
Isn’t it interesting how your relationship with a song’s lyrics change over time? When the Feist album Let It Go came out, the lyrics to Mushaboom really struck my heart and resonated deep within me. I was a single woman, living in a studio apartment in a bustling city, busting my tail off trying to prove myself at work and going through an introspective phase — as one is wont to do in their late 20s. For those unfamiliar with this song, it is about “2nd floor living without a yard”, when “my dreams will match up with my pay”. Oh man, didn’t I know! Another layer of the song is about finding the person, and the place, where life is simple and idyllic. It is about living on a dirt road, “watching the fire glow” and the desire to distill down to a slower paced life. And this is how the lyrics have changed for me since I last listened: I lived this song.
Of all the places I’ve called home (and I have moved A LOT), my most memorable was the yurt at the base of Mesa Verde National Park. There were myriad reasons why we chose to build a yurt in a friend’s apple orchard, but one compelling reason was the desire to live off the grid, with that’s right, no electricity, running water or utilities. You could describe our home as “glamping” We lived like this for a year, through heat and lots of snow. We saw countless sunsets over Mesa Verde and we were surrounded by nature, animal, stars and so much quiet. I really miss that level of quiet. We were completely disconnected when we were home and it was a wonderful experience. But it was also really damn hard. And yet despite the challenges, I still reminisce about the yurt even when I’m warmly ensconced in a furnace heated home, complete with a dishwasher and a 4 burner stove and glorious plumbing. I will forever miss our nighttime owl serenade and seeing the stars through our roof bubble.
Mushaboom the quilt is not exactly a scrap quilt, instead more of a leftovers quilt with larger remnants from other projects. Yes, I love this category — the leftovers quilt! The basis of this quilt design are half-square triangles (HST) leftover from my sister’s Queen (the band, not the monarch) inspired wedding quilt. I started off with six extra blocks from the prior quilt and just enough fabric to make the remainder. As I’ve mentioned before, the versatility of the simple HST creates endless design possibilities. Some of my quilt designs are very methodical, whereas others are created on a whim. Mushaboom falls into the latter category. For this quilt, I placed all of the HST blocks on my design wall and rearranged them until I found something that sparked my interest. This non-method is a fun way for me to be creative. In the event I ever wish to recreate it, I documented this quilt pattern in my maker journal. Writing precision pattern instructions is hard, so props to all of the pattern makers and writers out there in the world!
I finished this piece with machine quilting, a skill which definitely challenges me. Working on a domestic machine can provide a level of difficulty when quilting anything over a certain size. There is a lot of manipulating and squishing the quilt to fit within the confines of the machine. However, you don’t train for a marathon by watching the Olympics and therefore I will only get more comfortable at machine quilting by doing, not just looking at awesome quilt pictures. Don’t worry, there is no hidden announcement in this analogy — I am definitely not training for a marathon.
This quilt was made for a very dear friend who loves the Denver Broncos and can appreciate the colors of this bold blanket. We used to listen to Feist on repeat, so my musical accompaniment was obvious straight from the start. We also used to make playlists together, so this quilt comes with its own personalized soundtrack. (Of all female artists.) Thank you for being the dearest of the dears, for always being available for a hug, a car ride in the rain and the perfect smartass comment. Thank you for letting me knit at the sports bar while we watched football, and for continually explaining things like “downs” and “off-sides” to me. Thanks for getting me hooked on iPods and Carmelitas and baked brie. Thanks for giving me the best nickname ever.
My quest for simplicity will continue for the rest of my life. It will take on many forms and always be a part of my identity. So too will my desire to blanket (literally) all of my friends and family with handmade quilts. The reason I started making quilts is because I LOVE blankets. And then my love for the blanket itself became a passion for the process and creation of the quilt. At this point, I cannot imagine my life without quilting. Although it takes time to make, it is not “work”. Every minute I spend with fabric, needle and thread is prime happiness for me. Especially when I get to listen to music at the same time. And think about the awesome people I am fortunate enough to know and love.
Staci’s Mushaboom quilt soundtrack:
- Mushaboom – Feist
- We’ll Float – PJ Harvey
- I’m a Little Mixed UP – Eilen Jewell
- You May Know Him – Cat Power
- Mountaintop – Esther Rose
- Damn Shame – Jolie Holland
- Wrecking Ball – Gillian Welch
- Stolen Car – Beth Orton
- Blue Ridge Mountain – Hurray for the Riff Raff
- I Believe in Music – Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns
Albums listened to: Feist Let it Die, The Reminder; PJ Harvey Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea; Eilen Jewell Down Hearted Blues, Queen of the Minor Key; Cat Power Moon Pix, You are Free; Esther Rose How Many Times; Gillian Welch Soul Journey; Beth Orton Central Reservation; Hurray for the Riff Raff Small Town Heroes; Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns Fooler’s Gold.
Quiltunes 