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wow, I'm tired
Jan. 19th, 2008 08:15 pmI never thought I'd get physically exhausted from quilting, but today I went to my first Blanket Bee for Project Linus (http://www.projectlinus.org), and those ladies set a pace that I was hard put to keep up with.
Project Linus provides handmade quilts (and fleece blankets, and knitted or crocheted afghans, and so forth) to kids who've been through one trauma or another -- natural disaster victims, hospital patients, the homeless, and on. And on. There are never enough of them (the blankets, not the kids, unfortunately). So they hold Blanket Bees -- the local chapter holds them once a month in various locations in the South Puget Sound region of western Washington --where people called Blanketeers (which name I find rather twee, but that's the only thing I find twee about this cause) get together and cut out. And piece. And quilt. And knit. And crochet. And tie. It's a production line to rival Henry Ford.
I've been contributing quilts (lap-sized, usually, 40"x40") to Project Linus off and on for a few years now, but when the email newsletter came a week ago announcing a Blanket Bee about ten minutes from my house, I thought I'd go see what one was like.
There were about 20-25 of us as people came and went during the day, and we worked from nine in the morning till five this afternoon. When I left at about 4:45 pm, there were 59 completed blankets. I machine-quilted three of the five quilt tops I'd brought, and pieced blocks together for a fourth. It was one of the most satisfying days I've spent in a good long time.
But, boy, am I tired. And my shoulders ache.
Oh, and I blew out my sewing machine, so I guess my old pal Mister Singer (he's about 45, so entitled occasionally) is going to be visiting Maggie the sewing machine wizard on Monday [g].
Whew!
Project Linus provides handmade quilts (and fleece blankets, and knitted or crocheted afghans, and so forth) to kids who've been through one trauma or another -- natural disaster victims, hospital patients, the homeless, and on. And on. There are never enough of them (the blankets, not the kids, unfortunately). So they hold Blanket Bees -- the local chapter holds them once a month in various locations in the South Puget Sound region of western Washington --where people called Blanketeers (which name I find rather twee, but that's the only thing I find twee about this cause) get together and cut out. And piece. And quilt. And knit. And crochet. And tie. It's a production line to rival Henry Ford.
I've been contributing quilts (lap-sized, usually, 40"x40") to Project Linus off and on for a few years now, but when the email newsletter came a week ago announcing a Blanket Bee about ten minutes from my house, I thought I'd go see what one was like.
There were about 20-25 of us as people came and went during the day, and we worked from nine in the morning till five this afternoon. When I left at about 4:45 pm, there were 59 completed blankets. I machine-quilted three of the five quilt tops I'd brought, and pieced blocks together for a fourth. It was one of the most satisfying days I've spent in a good long time.
But, boy, am I tired. And my shoulders ache.
Oh, and I blew out my sewing machine, so I guess my old pal Mister Singer (he's about 45, so entitled occasionally) is going to be visiting Maggie the sewing machine wizard on Monday [g].
Whew!
