I am endlessly fascinated by feedsacks.  I don’t mean the burlap variety farmers use for hauling hen house manure, or the ones the foolhardy leap into for Fourth of July sack races.  I’m talking about cotton feed or flour sacks adorned with cheerful prints that were designed to be emptied, washed and used for quilts or clothing.  The practice began in the early twentieth century and is said to continue today, although with a much smaller supply and audience.  Feedsacks experienced their heyday in the 1930s and 40s, and are definitely collectibles today.

I found my first feedsacks at a quilt show, wonderful blue and white prints that I snatched up and began, slowly to add to through the years.  I’ve stayed with the theme, although I’ve allowed red and a little yellow to sneak in from time to time.  I have a wire basket filled with whole feedsacks or portions and plans for a patriotic Ohio Star quilt someday, when I can finally bear to cut them into smaller pieces.

Years ago, when my collector fervor was at its strongest, I found three and a half inch four-patch squares on eBay, some of which were said to be stitched from feedsack fabric.  So I won the bid and waited impatiently.  When the four-patches arrived, I saw what a motley assortment they were.  Some hand-stitched, some machine-stitched, some four inches, some three, some stained and all in need of a good soak.  Humiliated I put them away and told myself someday when I could face my own foolishness, I’d drag them out and see what could be done.

Several weeks ago I saw the squares on a long list of my UFOs.  That’s Unfinished Objects in quilterspeak, and most of us have a lot of them.  With a sense of duty I pulled out the squares, and finally they spoke to me.  I saw what I’d missed the first time around.  These were scraps from somebody’s sewing basket, a bit of this shirt, a piece of that dress, and yes, some were likely feedsacks, although I’m not expert enough to be certain.  But it no longer mattered.  I had something precious in my hands, another woman’s hopes and experiences.  I began to plot how to make best use of them.

The four-patches have now grown into sixteen-patches, carefully washed, trimmed and combined.  I’ll set  them with brand new navy star points and muslin using this Scrappy Star pattern from Quilt In A Day, and when I’m finished I’ll have a lap quilt or larger, both old and new, the memories of someone from another generation and my own stitched together.

I’m reminded of a novelist’s mission as I piece together the old patches and wait for the new fabric to arrive.  My job as an author is to take bits and pieces of my characters’ pasts and surround them with new events into one cohesive and pleasing whole.   I’ve never been more aware of that than with the book I’m writing now.  Each character has a rich history that can’t overwhelm the quilt of my novel.  While the history is “central” to who they are, it’s just a part of the story.  Only when a reader looks closer will the history, the past, add the color to the overall shape.

I’ll love this quilt once it’s finished.  When I wrap myself up on a cold evening, I’ll think about the woman who pieced these tiny squares.  Together, old and new, we created something useful and hopefully, pleasing.  But I’ll never snuggle under it without thinking of my book in progress, as well, and the story that grows in my mind from scraps of the past and slices of the present, as I stitch the four-patch squares into stars.

More than a year ago, quilt and fabric designer Pat Sloan and I began a block of the month project based on a quilt mentioned in Sister’s Choice, the fifth book in my Shenandoah Album series.  This month we’re pleased to say we have just posted the final pattern of the series, the layout(s), cutting, and sewing directions.

Those of you who have participated with us know there are two versions of the quilt.  Pictured here is Pat’s 12 block version, which is a decorative wall quilt.  My Advent version has 24 removable stockings to fill, one for each day leading up to Christmas.  Mine’s all done but the shouting, and I will post photos here next week so you can see the finished project.  I’m hoping it will be my granddaughter’s Christmas present, and that she will enjoy it for years to come. 

You can read more about the project by going here.

Along the way Pat and I offered a giveaway to one participating quilter and another for a quilter who finished all the stockings and posted the photos on our Flickr page.  Cathy won a set of my Quilt Along With pattern books and Sarah just won a grand prize of all sorts of goodies.  Congratulations to both women, and to everyone who persisted and finished the stockings.  Now, finish the quilt.

Didn’t do this but wish you had?  All the patterns will be archived at Pat’s website for at least a year, so you still have time.  Look around while you’re there.  Pat has a lot to offer.

And while I’m announcing giveaways?  Congratulations to Audrey, Emily and Marilyn who commented about my Rising Tides covers and chose the ones they liked best.  Each will receive copies of Iron Lace and Rising Tides in their latest mass market paperback version.

Feeling sad you haven’t won anything?  Check my Facebook page for yet another opportunity. Everyone who tells us a favorite memory of his or her mother will be entered in a giveaway for a copy of A Mother’s Touch, an anthology of three novellas in honor of Mother’s Day.  Random.org will choose three winners, so add your comment by May 6th for a chance to win.  You don’t have to ask me to friend you.  If you’re already a Facebook member, just click on the link above, and it will take you right there. 

More contests coming up in the near future, so please check back to see what the publication of Fortunate Harbor in July will bring.

One of the reasons I’ve so enjoyed writing the Shenandoah Album novels has been the chance to design quilts with words.  Never mind how hard they are to actually construct.  I can sew my quilts with sentences, choosing colors I love and imagining the result.  Early on, of course, Leisure Arts blessed me with real quilts to go with my images, in the form of the Quilt Along With Emilie Richards companion volumes.  Real and imagined quilts.  The best of all possible worlds.

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Are you participating in the block of the month project I’m doing with Pat Sloan?  Are you considering participation?  Or are you simply interested in what quilters do?  Then read on.  If not, there are lots of blogs below this one to entertain you while I show the block of the month participants how to make a crazy patch.  And be sure to stop by in a day or two for a regular, more general post.  Now for those crazy quilters. . .

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I promised another side of Guatemala, one of the most multi-faceted places I’ve yet to visit, a country so visually extraordinary that there were few moments when somebody on our trip wasn’t snapping photos.  Since only the men in my family seem to have the photography gene, my photos pale in comparison.  Yet even I couldn’t waste this opportunity. 

Of course almost anyone reading this knows I’m a quilter.  Fabric is my drug of choice.  I can get lost in a quilt shop with three aisles, finding my way out hours later dehydrated and dizzy but blissful.  Especially if I have a bag under each arm.  And so for me, a country in which women weave and sew their own clothing, using designs and motifs that proclaim their individual heritage?  For that part of the trip, I felt as if I were in heaven.

I expected to find fabric and weavings in Chichicastenango, famous for it’s huge outdoor market, and not surprisingly, I did.  But the show began much earlier.  On the streets of Antigua, in the villages of the highlands, at the airport in Guatemala City.  Everywhere I looked I saw color and pattern and history.  This was an extraordinary visual opportunity and I drank in every drop, particularly the gorgeous traditional huipiles.

The huipil (wee-peel) is a tunic-like garment, made from cloth woven on backstrap looms and often embroidered, too, worn over a skirt.  The skirts are created from handwoven cloth, as well, wrapped and cinched at the waist with a belt.  If a huipil isn’t worn, a handmade and embroidered blouse is.  The result is a treat to the eye.  The women wearing them are, as well.
 

Although huipiles were available at almost every craft shop and market, as well as from street vendors, some of the most stunning were displayed at Casa de Artes in Antigua, where the delightful owner gave us an informal tour of both the shop and her beautiful courtyard, and allowed me to take and post this photo.    

Sadly the art of weaving suffered during the country’s civil war when the Army smashed thousands of looms to stamp out this unique expression of Mayan culture.  Women were afraid to create their traditional designs for fear they would be connected to the villages of their origin, many of which had been destroyed.  Luckily for the world, many of the designs and the weavers survived, and are still in evidence everywhere today.

Although I loved the vendors, whose cheerful bargaining became an opportunity to practice my growing Spanish vocabulary, I was on the lookout for real fabric stores where Mayan women shopped.  I found this one in a town bordering lake Atitlan, and shopped in another in Chichicastenango.  Fabric was by far my favorite souvenir, and now I have no excuse not to make the Endless Chain quilt with real Guatemalan fabric, as Elisa does in the novel.  Watch for it on these pages.

Mayan villagers live close to the source of their food, and market day is a feast for the senses.  Next time, a Guatemalan alternative to Krogers and Safeway. 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. . .  Shhh. . .  Come closer.  You can make a quilt.  Yep, YOU.  Okay, so you’ve never done it before.  Well, everybody had to start somewhere, right?  And I’ve got just the place for you to begin.  One block a month.  That’s all you have to do.  Two a month if you’re feeling perky and want to make the larger version.  More than that?  Sure, why not?  This is a simple quilt, as forgiving as a grandmother.  You can make a million mistakes, and it will still be delightful.

Intrigued?  I hope so.  Here’s the story.

Talented quilt designer Pat Sloan and I are offering a block of the month pattern, just for the folks who visit our websites.  You can read the whole story here of how we met, how we conceived the project–the photo is us at Macy’s after a working lunch–and how it relates to Sister’s Choice, my July 2008 novel from Mira Books.

Suffice it to say that we are sure this is something you’ll have fun with, or we wouldn’t have bothered.  There’s lots of room for creativity as well as mistakes.  And there will be a community of quilters to help you and to share photos of your quilt with.

The year long project is called A Season of Grace, after Grace Cashel, the woman who designed a similar quilt in Sister’s Choice.  Okay, okay, if you’re too busy to go to my quilt studio and read more, I’ll tell you this much.  A Season of Grace is an Advent quilt.  You’ll have the
choice of making twenty-five blocks, or just twelve.  You also have the choice of doing the quilt two different ways.  The larger version–first two stockings shown here–has removable stockings that you can fill, so that the child in your life has something to do in December while she or he waits for Santa Claus. 

Or that special man. . .  Or your houseguests. . .  The possibilities are endless. 

So come and join us.  You know where my quilt studio is.  You’ll find Pat’s here.  Pat and I will take turns offering the blocks.  She begins with our February block pattern, and in March, you’ll find the next pattern on my website.  Guess why?  Of course.  We want you to visit both our websites, so please don’t print and share with your guild.  Ask your quilter friends to visit us, too.  Pat’s website is a treasure trove of fun.  Lots of quilting tips and patterns, gorgeous fabric she’s designed, and lots of how-to books.  Mine?  Well, hopefully you know all about mine.  If not, dig in.

Pat’s set up for lots of comments, but you are welcome to comment here on this or any of my blog posts, or you can email me directly from my website.  You may have to wait a bit for an answer, because I’m going to Guatemala, to walk in the footsteps of Elisa Kinkade from Endless Chain.  But as soon as I’m back, I’ll help if I can. 

I am quilter, hear me roar!  Let’s hear you, too!