Helen Kelley Patchworks

October 5, 2007 - Today it was time to think about 3 new lines for this journal but as I sat down to ponder, I discovered that the ears on my Indian’s face on this quilt are so far apart that his head doesn’t fit on his neck. Instead of writing 3 new lines, I’m undoing a week’s worth of work. Two weeks ago, I had a message from a quilter who talked about my “angst”. Well, I am dripping with “angst”. There is “angst” all over my workroom. Today, “angst” Tomorrow, 3 new lines.

September 28, 2007 - I had a dream. Like Old Pharaoh, but I didn’t have Joseph to interpret it for me. No lean cows and no fat cows in my dream; just a Hiawatha. I’ve been wrestling with this Indian for my quilt, not knowing where to begin, and last night I dreamed how to make him. I had all the fabric and the pins and the scissors and I sewed him from his head to his toes and today and I doing it, just like I did in the dream. It’s working, and I didn’t even need Joseph! Last night I had a dream!

September 23, 2007 - I did it! I jumped off the dock into the cold waters of Lake Gitchie Gummi for my Hiawatha quilt. I have gathered all the watery and beachy fabrics together and laid them out on the floor and played with them. They tantalized me. They scared me. I want so badly to get it right and I wonder about the beautiful possibilities and the fact that I might goof it up. Finally, I gave myself a push and leapt in and it seems to be working out. But it took courage.

  September 16, 2007 - I have my rotary cutter and my cutting board out.  I have been cutting fabric swatches for color wheels.  This is such a strange phenomenon…..to lay these colors in a hodge podge and then take each out, one at a time and watch it transmute.  Each color becomes something else depending on what I place it beside.  My blues turn purple and sometimes green.  My reds get oranger and oranger.  It’s a lovely game and it doesn’t matter one bit that there is no pot of gold at the end of my rainbow.

September 10, 2007 - I have finished the Chippewa beadwork pattern borders on this quilt that I am working on. It is obvious that there is no vestige of old Noah and his ark that this started out to be. Now, it is 100% Hiawatha and his canoe, and my ideas about it are happening and changing daily. Noah will have to wait for my next quilt.

September 2, 2007 - My daughter, Helen, tells me she has always remembered the wonderful promise of a fresh new box of crayons as she returned to school in the fall.  Well, it’s fall.   We’ve been through the drought and baking temperatures of summer and now, here we are.   I have a wonderful idea in my head for a quilt.  It has all of that exciting  promise of a new box of crayons.

August 26, 2007 - I have been seeing pictures of women in the Middle East in the gray and tan heat of rocks and sand.  I am so grateful.  What a blessing to be living in a place where I can turn on the furnace or the air conditioning and create my own weather.  My fabric is dry and pleasant, not damp or dry and dusty.  I can sew unencumbered by a muggy atmosphere or a gritty whirlwind or a dim light.  This is the best of all possible worlds.

August 19, 2007 - Last spring the world was fresh and green with promise. But now in August, it is golden: golden sunshine, golden wild mustard, golden corn.  The gold will turn in a few weeks to the deep red of sumac and oak and maple leaves.There will be the riot of red chrysanthemums. And then there will be the quiet of winter setting in.  Every time the seasons turn, we have a new miracle.  Color is such a lovely gift.

August 12, 2007 - It’s August and State Fair time.  Trey, my great grandson, reminded me that I have to get his quilt to the Fair for judging.  I’m as excited about it as he is.  The entire family will meet at the Creative Activities Building to see how the quilt looks hanging up. 

If I win a ribbon on it, I admit I will be thrilled.  If I don’t, I’ll be a good sport. But I will feel very sad for the judge who didn’t understand what a wonderful, prize-winning quilt it is.  I loved making it and know that having Trey love it is the real blue-ribbon-best-most-important part of it all.

August 5, 2007 - Today I leave to go to teach at the John Campbell Folk School in the North Carolina mountains.  I’ve been cutting fabric samples, printing patterns, and reviewing my notes in preparation. My bags are almost packed. I have much I want to share.

The very best part of of this trip will be the people I meet.  Quilting people are always gracious, enthusiastic and talented. I will come home again with pithy problems to solve, new challenges to try, wonderful memories, and lasting friendships.