Quilts: A Living Tradition by Robert Shaw: The Destiny of Things, Story 179

Quilts: A Living Tradition by Robert Shaw:  The Destiny of Things, Story 179

I love quilts!

photo via VintageToGoEasy 

handmade washi tape quilt cards here, here and here

An email explains it all!

Dear Kennedy,

I am the thrilled recipient of a wonderful book, Shaw’s Quilts: A Living Tradition, which my son recently ordered from your Etsy site and sent to me for my 63rd birthday .

It is a beautiful book that I will reference often, both as a quilter and as an avid history buff.

The little envelope of doodads intrigued me:  The penny for my thoughts is dated 2008, the year three of my grandchildren were born (aka,” The Three Monkeys.”)  The little stickers will be great as behavioral rewards for them.

The Fortune Telling Fish really brought back a wonderful memory for me!  Fifty years ago on my 13th birthday, my mother included those in the party favors.  My girlfriends and I had great fun watching the little red cellophane fish wriggle and warp on our palms.  I had never seen them before or since.  Last Saturday, I brought them to my quilting bee,( along with the book, of course) and showed my friends how to use them.  Can you picture a dozen old grannies giggling over our being fickle or in love!  My fortune indicates that I am just as passionate now as I was fifty years ago!

Thank you for dehoarding your life and enriching mine.

May you be heaped with loads of non-material blessings!

Best wishes
 

 I can't imagine how many pieces went into this quilt!

photo via VintageToGoEasy 

handmade washi tape quilt cards here, here and here

I am so thankful the book went to another quilter who will enjoy it as much as I did and now it's been to a quilting bee!  It's news like that brings me joy and keeps me motivated to continue dehoarding, so I can start quilting again.

Plus it's a bonus to hear how someone loved my doodad package and the memories of the Fortune Fish that resurfaced with it!  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall with all the giggling going on!

 Package of doodads with every order or you can purchase one here, here, here or here.

Each shop has a similar, yet different array of items in each package.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I love quilts!  And yes, I used to hoard them!  I have several quilts from my family.  I have bought many quilts and quilt tops from my thrifting days back in the 80s and I've made three quilts in my classrooms.  

My students drew self portraits on fabric for a quilt I finished that we sent to our sister school in Denmark, another was a twin size felt quilt of button nosed bunnies and one was a door contest with the theme of Africa to celebrate African American month.  

The students researched Kenya and worked in pairs to prepare a fact finding square to illustrate.  I used to collect African textiles and even had some fabric from Kenya to use in it.  It won the contest hands down and every year the library asked to display it during African American month.

---Include bunny quilt and Kenya quilt here----

The last quilt was the bunny quilt and the students completed the entire quilt themselves.  It took almost the whole year to make and they worked extra hard to have free time to work on it.  They also wrote their secrets, hope, dreams, troubles and wishes on paper and sewed them inside that quilt.  I can still feel the paper in some of the squares.

 I just love this bow tie and hour glass quilt

 from quarter square triangle blocks, especially the edging!

photo via VintageToGoEasy 

handmade washi tape quilt cards here, here and here

Saying Goodbye:  Even though I've read these quilt books front to back and look through them at least once a year for inspiration I am thankful they've gone on to new homes. (This is the second quilt book  sold, the other that sold can be seen here)

The Fowler Museum at UCLA seems to have textile exhibits often and in the 90s, it was the first time I was introduced to a Gee Bend quilt.  It was a cut and sew quilt of the back of old jeans.  The lady in the video interview said it's the front of the jeans that go first and that's why her quilt had so many pockets.  I never forgot her and can still picture her in my head.

I've seen many exhibits there that have inspired me, another one was one of religious artifacts made from trash from Peru and Brazil.  After that I've always wanted to go to the Corpus Cristi in Peru.  The exhibition now at the Fowler Museum is "Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners."  I'm going to go see it sometime before July 20!

What I Learned:

1.  This post definitely has inspired and motivated me to make better progress in clearing the music art room, so I can find the two quilts I've started.  One is an alphabet quilt and I'm half way done with squares.  Both I've been sewing by hand and I need to find the fabric stash that goes with both of them.

2.  It's the kindness of strangers that keep me dehoarding and I'm extremely grateful to you all for sending your stories to help me with mine!

3.  I don't think anyone's thanked me for dehoarding before, so that felt good!

What small miracles found you today?  For me it's finding that my alternative to hoarding by creating Gee Bend inspired washi tape quilt cards seems to be working!

Thank you Etsy buyer from VintageToGoEasy for the motivation to continue clearing the music art room, so I can finish projects close to my heart.   I hope I'm still as passionate as you are 50 years from now!  Many thanks for the load of heaps of non material blessings!

Thank you Etsy for random emails of kind Etsyians helping me with my Hoarder Rehab journey and for helping find happy homes for over 620 items of my hoard!

Thank you US, Canada, China, UK, Argentina, Peru, Russia, Thailand and many others for being here and supporting my  HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things!  

Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab,  The Destiny of Things, VintageToGoEasy and now JunkDrawerLove!  There are about 107 items listed on JunkDrawerLove and relistings to each shops daily and adding new listings weekly to all shops too!  Thanks for looking!  Find something to take home and share your story too!

Here's a sample of Gee Bend inspired alternative to hoarding! 

 photo via The Destiny of Things, print available here

These cards are part of my index card series!

Related Stories:  Other Creative Outlets, instead of hoarding!

1.  Embroidery and Mending, story here.  I find this creative outlet very relaxing!

2.  Packaging Surprises, story here.  Making this forest of trees kept me busy for weeks!

All Time Most Read Story of the Week, Month and All Time:  My Louis Vuitton Collection the end of mine for the beginning of someone else.  The last piece of my LV collection, my 80s LV gold cornered wallet is available here at The Destiny of Things! 

"Harmony.  It's not what's lasting or permanent.  It is about individual voices coming together for a moment.  And that moment lasts a length of a breath, or in my instance a transaction.  That's what I think about my time here."---Frank Underwood from House of Cards or in my case, I think it's "destiny, as well as harmony."

View my House of Cards - Frank Underwood, Harmony quote double sided reversible washi tape collage art here, here and here!  It's a series of three so far! 

Happy Friday!