An Obsession and an Excuse

Quilting is my new obsession. As with many projects I embrace, I’m having a tough time taking a break.

When my friend showed me the lovely book of artsy quilts meant to be wall hangings, I jumped at the chance to make one, never having made more than a tiny patchwork quilt in a class. I remembered from that experience how essential it is to be totally accurate in terms of piece sizes and seam allowances.

I fell in love with the peacocks in this Hoffman fabric. My friend managed to find a local store that carried it. The quilting gurus who work in the store helped me find the companion fabrics and suggested the tiny pink highlight separating the quilt face from the border.


I chose to piece my quilt with a machine, as opposed to doing it all by hand as my friend is. However, it is still a lot of seams that must be done in a very orderly way for everything to fit properly.

My attention was on putting together the hundreds of small pieces this morning when it should have been on practicing my tap dance steps for our “number” which is slated for next Sunday. I hoped maybe I could coast through our last class without disclosing the fact that I never practiced this week.

Not so. I quickly decided that if I have the nerve to show up next week, I will most certainly remind the audience of a few Lucille Ball performances where she totally made a fool of herself. I toyed with the idea of inviting NO ONE to watch, but our dear teacher Roberta reminded us to bring our families and friends, so I suppose I must at least bring my husband. I’ve already warned him what to expect.

I have promised myself to practice every day this week so I can at least dance as well as the blind girl in our class.

But meanwhile, I took the evening to add the border to my quilt and get ready for whatever the next steps are. My friend has the book, so I have a good excuse to stop, sleep, and find out later this week what happens next.

Hopefully by then I will know the dance, replete with its hand movements, the last of which is supposed to simulate an airplane as we grapevine off the stage. Roberta promises that our Air Force hats are arriving in the mail this week.