Practicing

When Alexander was here this summer, we helped him learn how to ride his two wheeler without training wheels.  That blessed event took three days of falls, wobbles, false starts, frustration, and tears before success occurred.  It was hard to watch. Each day, Alex would say to me, "I want to practice riding my bike," and each day we would go out on the sidewalk, review the guidelines of successful bike riding, and go at it.  Finally, that magical moment occurred when Alex and the bike took off without my fingers stabilizing the seat.  And oh, the thrill and the joy of it all, not only for Alex but for his proud Nana and Grandad too.

I've been thinking a lot about practicing lately.

Knitting has taught me that getting better necessitates doing it over and over and over again.  So it only made sense that after making my first baby quilt, I needed another quilting project. I am not yet confident enough to branch out into new patterns so I decided to make the same pattern, London Crossroads, and scale it down into a table runner.  Practice ensued.

First came cutting.

Believe it or not cutting, for me, has not been as easy at it seems.  Using a quilting ruler and rotary cutter are skills that require a certain vigilance.  I learned the hard way when I reversed my ruler away from the 1/2 inch side, and I cut a whole set of 2 inch strips, rather than 2 1/2 and 3 inch strips rather than 3 1/2.  Back to the fabric store with the adage, "Measure twice, cut once" (in my father's voice) resounding in my mind.

I worked on even seam stitching. In my first quilting class, our instructor had us practice stitching 1/4 inch seams before we began piecing our quilts.  At that time I didn't fully appreciate the necessity for exactness in seam width, but that became  utterly clear when we began putting our blocks together and matching points.  

Quilting is so exact and each piece of it contributes to the whole.  Even pressing has rules which guide setting the seam and the way the seam is pressed.  All of this requires concentrated thought, since for me the art of quilting is far from automatic.

 I layered the backing, batting, and pieced top and then pinned the sandwich all together. And now I start quilting, trying to remember how to bring my thread to the top and very carefully "stitching in the ditch" to quilt this piece.  I deliberately reread instructions and slowly proceed.

My life right now imitates the practice I attempt. 

Yesterday, I held conversation with a young woman who followed up her did-I-work question with a what-do-you-do query.  I paused, seeking words to define what "retired" means for my life.  I told her that I was still learning how to be retired.  It feels like spending more time with family, intensifying volunteer time at church and with Strawberry Fields.  Reading more, exercising more, pausing more, and breathing more slowly and deeply.  I stammered a bit, then changed the subject. I really don't know yet fully how to do this, because, you see, I am still practicing.

Yesterday

Yesterday, for the first time in over two decades, school began without me.  I really am a retiree, aren't I?

I spent the day putzing around the house, stopping off to deliver a baby blanket, pulling together little plant gifts for a few desks of my teacher friends, and taking my first gentle yoga class.  At the dimming of the day, Jim and I pedaled through the Penn State campus, the setting sun painting the sky and lilting brass notes from the Blue Band offering soft ambience. It was all good....

This is the blanket I delivered.  I don't often post a pattern, but from time to time it feels right, especially if it is such an easy yet basic one.  This Basket Weave Baby Blanket never disappoints.  I used Berroco Comfort Yarn (isn't that the perfect name for yarn used in a baby blanket?), a soft, worsted weight yarn that is rapidly becoming my go-to yarn for baby projects.  And here's the pattern:

Simple Basket-Weave Baby Blanket

Yarn needed: 5 skeins (2 oz. each) worsted weight yarn
1 size 8 circular needle, 24 inches long

1. Cast on 105 stitches.

2. Row 1-6:  Work in seed stitch.

3. Row 7: Work first 5 stitches in seed stitch starting with a knit stitch and ending with a knit stitch.  Then, work across the row in knit 5 purl 5 pattern until there are 5 stitches remaining.  Again, work the last 5 stitches in seed stitch, beginning with knit 1.

4. Row 8: Work the first 5 stitches in seed stitch. Then work across the row in purl 5 knit 5 pattern until there are 5 stitches left.  Work the remaining stitches in seed stitch.

5. Row 9 through 14: Repeat rows 7 and 8 three more times, for a total of 8 rows in the pattern.  You should see the basket-weave pattern begin to take shape.

6. Row 15: Work the first 5 stitches in seed stitch.  Then work across the row in purl 5, knit 5 pattern until there are 5 stitches left.   Work the remaining stitches in seed stitch.

7. Row 16: Work the first 5 stitches in seed stitch.  Then work across the row in knit 5, purl 5 pattern until there are 5 stitches left.  Work the remaining stitches in seed stitch.

8. Repeat rows 15 and 16 three more times for a total of 8 rows in the pattern.

9. Continue the pattern repeating steps 3 through 8 until the blanket measures 32 inches.

Work 6 rows in seed stitch.

Bind off. Weave in and trim loose ends.  Block if desired.

Two Weeks

Each summer, we host our grandson for a week we call "Camp Alexander."  This year's Camp Alexander was sandwiched into a two-week period surrounding the birth of Alex's new baby brother.  It was a very full and very busy two weeks. And while both Grandad and Nana were plum tuckered by its end, memories were made...

We built Hot Wheels tracks all over the lower level.  We took a day to go over the mountain and into Rothrock State Forest to visit our friend Jackie and her cat room at Stone Valley Pet Lodge, check out the raptors at Shaver's Creek, and take a cold swim in Whipples Dam.  We spent one sunny afternoon wading at Spring Creek Park and the second sunny day of the week at DelGrosso Amusement Park in Tipton.  Alex taught me how to play Angry Birds on my iPad, and we taught him how to ride his bike sans training wheels (conceivably the highlight of the week for us all). We had shakes at Baby's, saw the Smurfs in a movie theater, and played on the slides at Sunset Park.  At the end of the week, Alex and I flew home to his newly expanded family where he lovingly assumed his new role as big brother.

madonna

Our daughter with our new grandson, James Timothy Thomas born at 4:19AM on Tuesday, August 2, weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz. and  measuring 21 inches. True beauty, both of them.

New

Two family milestones mark this month--a new home for our son and his wife and a new baby for our daughter's family.  Pretty thrilling all around.

Two weekends ago signaled the big move for Rob and Alexis. The U-Haul began its journey at our house, loaded up with furniture passed along from our house to theirs.  A hefty and hardy moving crew of family and friends spent two days shifting furniture and belongings from the Harrisburg apartment to the Harrisburg home, a charming, brick two-story in a tree-lined neighborhood that reminds Jim and me of our own.  

Now the transformation from house to home begins as Rob and Alexis order, arrange, and discover how to live in this new space of their lives.  Over these past few weeks, my mind has revisited the three houses that have provided home to our family.  We learned so much about being homeowners and about living within all those walls.  What stories will now be written within these...

And now we wait for the next big change, the birth of our second grandchild, a second grandson.  All is ready, both for us and for his mama.  Her suitcase is packed and ours sits on a bed upstairs.  We have several meals frozen in our freezer to be transferred to hers. The quilt is wrapped and ready to go.  All we need now is a phone call telling us it is time, and we will make the trek south to greet with joy the newest member of our family.

In the meantime, I am knitting sweaters...several baby sweaters. One for little James, one for a colleague who recently adopted daughter number two, and one more for a layette kit for Lutheran World Relief.  This cute pattern, the "Easy Baby Cardigan" is found in More Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  Making these little sweaters has helped me pass the time while waiting, never really an easy task.

Quilting (part II)

in the unknown world

the woman

threading together her need

and her needle

nods toward the smiling girl

remember

this will keep us warm.

-lucille clifton, from quilting

The quilt for Jamie is finished.  Now, we simply await his arrival.

I am pleased with the final product—a colorful, happy blanket, intended to be used, wrapped, crumpled, soiled, and washed, over and over again.  I hope this pieced quilt will become a well loved prop in the unfolding life of this our newest grandson as he explores the world around him.

It delights me that this trusty, little Singer Featherweight machine rumbled alongside me as I stitched this together.  This little machine, made in 1955 (which I discovered by matching a serial number to a Featherweight website) and highly prized by quilters, was the same sewing machine on which my mother taught me to sew.  Early in my married years, Mom bequeathed it to me, and this machine stitched together curtains for three homes, Halloween costumes and Christmas outfits for three children, and even made that little yellow baby quilt in the previous post.


While it is a champ at piecing (the stitching together of all the blocks for the top), it is not ideal for machine quilting (the sewing together of all the layers of the quilt—top, batting, border, and back), because even though it is a heck of a workhorse, its size does not easily accommodate yards of fabric and batting.  The weight and bulk of it all is often too much for a little Featherweight.  But I muddled through alright, this tepid adverb aptly describing my thoughts on the experience.  My quilting is okay, acceptable for my first crack at it, but my craftwomanship is far from good.  I have lines that zip and wander from the straight diagonals they are supposed to be.  In an email to my teacher last week, I opined:

While I realize that I have miles to go before I can really attach the word quilter to my name, I am not displeased (despite my grumbling yesterday) with this sweet little quilt I am making for James.  I toyed with the idea of ripping out some of my meandering lines, but decided to keep them in, as a benchmark to future progress and a story to share with my grandchildren about the sometimes frustrating process of learning something new.

It is good for this freshly retired teacher to be reminded that the process of learning is two-sided, a duel presentation of the vexation of a venture into unfamiliar territory concomitant with the pleasure of new discovery.

Today I sew an embroidered label on the back.  And within the next few weeks, in my grandson’s own right time, I will present this quilt to my daughter to swaddle a new life, her youngest son, within its folds. 

Quilting

somewhere in the unknown world

a yellow eyed woman

sits with her daughter

quilting.
-from "quilting" by lucille clifton

I have always been drawn to quilts, intrigued by the womanly art of them, appreciative of resourcefulness of the craft, and respectful of the warmth of their beautiful practicality.  Quilts carry family history in fabrics cut from old garments and in stitches sewn by mothers or grandmothers or aunts or sisters or friends.  I cherish quilts passed along from women in my life--two from my family and one from several circles of friends who hand pieced a quilt presented to me when our family moved away; I love that quilt...

Thirty six years ago, I even made a little quilt myself.  It was for a new baby (our Barbara), assembled with leftover gingham from a bassinet skirt I made.  Using cardboard as a template, I cut out squares, stitched them together, backed it with some yellow fabric, fashioned a ruffled border, and then knotted it.  It is amateurish in design and construction, but that quilt was used for two Campbell babies (Rob as well) and was pulled out for our first grandchild Alexander. It still washes up well.

One of my retirement goals was to make a quilt.  I am not sure I was even all that serious about it; however, in a moment of impulse in June, I signed up to take a quilting class at our local yarn store, Stitch Your Art Out.  The class was listed for beginners, the project was a small quilt (perfect for a baby quilt), and the instructor was Deb Kerr, a fellow State High faculty member who I admire both as a teacher and quilter. I just finished the first two classes this week, and I am hooked.

Each step of this new adventure has been enjoyable and gratifying.

Picking out the fabric was made easier since I knew I wanted the quilt to complement the blanket I knit for baby James. I find it liberating that this new generation of mamas no longer adheres to traditional baby colorways, so I felt free to go colorfully wild in choosing fabric and colors.  

Sewing machine, fabric, and recommended tools in tow, I climbed the shop stairs last week to begin my class.  Sitting with three other women, I spent a stimulating afternoon learning about rotary cutting, quilting rulers, 1/4 inch stitching (I am thrilled with my trusty old Singer Featherweight for this!), and grey thread.  It is a new lexicon for this knitter.

In two afternoons, we cut, pieced, and began to sew it all together.  This morning I finished stitching together the top of the quilt.  Learning something new and stretching my mind in different directions has been a stimulating first step into retirement. It has been a good week....