Love Is The Key

All quiltmaking is love. Yet there is something extra powerful about making a quilt specifically for someone. When I craft a quilt for a person, I pay close attention to the materials, shapes, colors, patterns, and even the music I listen to, so that the final product showcases an essence – or vibe – of that individual. I utilize my making time to contemplate the quilt receiver and their role in my life, often laughing out loud because I know a lot of awesome people. There are myriad reasons why I make a quilt and each is infused with appreciation and love for the person. Every quilt I create is important and it my honor to gift them to the wide circle of beautiful people in my life.

This quilt was lovingly crafted for my beloved partner of fifteen (!!) years, let’s call Mr. Quiltunes. Mr. Q’s favorite color is plaid. (Which is how he answers the favorite color question.) From the first time we met, there’s always been plaid. He can even rock a double plaid, aka plaid-on-plaid, and did so decades before it was fashionable! Plaid is a part of Mr. Quiltunes identity, just like his dark beard, wry wit, kindness, ability to fix everything, intelligence and ruggedness. So when I decided to make him a quilt, it had to be mad for plaid. Ha.

It amazes me how fourteen years into my quilting journey, how frequently I still experience “firsts”. I adore a good old fashioned patchwork quilt and yet this blanket is my first creation. The most significant first is that this quilt is made entirely from repurposed fabrics – denim scraps and Pendleton remnant plaids. When I described the quilt materials to a quick-witted friend, he exclaimed “denim scraps and Pendleton remnants sounds like an old fashioned Oregon insult!”. Good one, Jim! When you are accustomed to working with one material (namely 100% cotton), the combination of fabrics offered an exciting learning experience. In order to organize this design, I spread all the pieces out on the dining room floor with the furniture pushed aside. Whoa, working this way was like being in a downward dog yoga pose for an hour! Also all of the denims contained stretch which, while awesome for burrito eating purposes, proved a bit wonky to sew. And yet all of my fretting was for naught as the mixed fabrics coalesced into a whole top relatively easily. Funny how that goes… My final first is that this quilt was made entirely in secret and crafted maniacally during spurts while Mr. Q was out of the house. It’s not like I could hang a Keep Out sign on my sewing room. As a teenager with stepbrothers, I learned the hard way that there is no better invitation for unwanted guests then a Keep Out sign. Despite a few very close calls, the quilt remained a true surprise.

What I love second most about this quilt (first most being who the quilt will warm) is that I was able to give all of this fabric a new life. The plaids are sentimental because they were the homemade curtains that adorned the windows in our first house. The thrift store rescue denim dress (yes, a very unflattering jean dress!) and my own worn jeans still had so much life left in them. I did not have enough of the flannel backing (also a former curtain), so I incorporated one of our old Blue Bird flour sacks, a not-so-subtle nod of appreciation for my husband’s baking talent. In this age when everything feels disposable, there is so much joy and creativity in reuse. As a quilter, what I’ve done here isn’t unique; it is what quilters have done forever – repurposing our fabrics into blankets and art. When I look at the quilts I love, the ones that are scrappy and full of life and oozing with love, all were created from fabric that already lived. There are a plethora of amazing contemporary quilters continuing this tradition and working solely in repurposed fabrics. During a season when our capitalist culture screams at us to over-consume in the name of love, making this quilt out of leftovers felt like an act of radical defiance.

The vibe of this quilt pulses with blues music. I mean just look at it! So it should come as no surprise that the soundtrack was all blues, and more specifically the Mississippi Delta and North Mississippi Hill Country bluesmen whose music often fills our home. Mr. Q has a special connection to this music for he spent time in Mississippi restoring and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. We have a decent-ish collection of blues tunes, which is heavily supplemented by several favorite blues shows on community radio, namely WWOZ in New Orleans. Now the blues aren’t usually about things gone right, especially in regard to love, yet I still find the blues so comforting to listen to. Maybe it is the honest portrayal of the human condition. Maybe it is the documentation of everyday life. Maybe it is the way the guitar notes seep directly into my heart. And maybe I don’t have to quantify why I love the music. Keeping me company on this quilting journey were the legends Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell, Junior Kimbrough and Cedric Burnside (grandson of RL Burnside). This quilt is named after the song by Cedric on his most recent Grammy award winning album I Be Trying. The whole album feels like a love letter and life advice, and a little internet sleuthing confirms Cedric’s intent for the record was to share insight with his daughters. Gotta love music that comes straight from the heart.

Mr. Q is thrilled with his plaid quilt, which makes me so damn happy. I feel like every time I sit down to write the final paragraphs of my posts, there is a constant theme about how special quilts are for spreading love. How fortunate I feel as a quilter to be so deep in a craft that I love and that produces quilts, which then continue to spread love. It really is amazing how profoundly powerful this cycle is. And in a world where the dark forces are very strong, any and all proclamations of love are essential. Like Cedric says, “Cause love is, love is, the key.”