Zola Joy and Her Legendary Blankie

My Sister Twi was frazzled as a new mom, unable to get Zola Joy, her first of many tow-heads, to sleep through the night. Jon and Twi had come for our Mother's passing with little Zo.  During the tender time of loosing one's mother, my sister was also at a loss as to how to help baby ZO to sleep.

During our growing-up years, Twi and I clung to one another, even though we were four years apart. We stuck together, as the two youngest in a family of seven very individual kids. Like a sibling version of BranJolina, you could often hear older siblings asking, commenting, or complaining about Sylvia-n-Twila as though we were one entity.

Given our sibling history, it is not surprising that into our adulthood neither of us can truly feel content when one of us is “in-drama”.

So on this mother-passing-visit, with Twi tired and weepy over Zo's sleep patterns, it felt really natural to work through the the night together.  We began the morning of, Twila cutting and marking (while Jon took care of Zo and young Tom).  We were determined to complete baby-Zo's quilt the day before they returned home. Stitching together a little comfort for my sister and her babe was a last minute thought that I was sure would solve the bed-time drama, with one of my favorite patterns I call Dove-tail pinwheels.  I was convinced all baby Zola needed was a little "cozy", and better sleep would return to my Sister too. 

The final stitches were finished just as they walked out the door...and as expected, Zola began sleeping through the night, following the return trip home. 

Over the years Zo wore this quilt to threads, with just tattered pieces left when they were here again last summer, June of 2010.  Zola explained that her blankie had worn out and could I please do another? 

 We sat together by my bed and picked out some of the same fabric I still had pieces of, to replace this legendary blankie. I loved that she had a specific idea for the way the fabric would pattern. We chose something simple that I could whip together easily, but alas, I didn't finish it before she left.

A year passed and as happens, we get busy and those little things that really carry the most meaning tend to get swept aside. Yet these days, as I wade through breast cancer treatments, Twila has been flying out to stay with me through the worst moments.

During what feels like days on end at home, with an emerging eagerness to just take off and fly again, I have found the time, and desperately needed sense of purpose, to work on Zola's new blankie.

She is now nearing nine years old and before we know it, Zo will soon be a young woman. So when I went to my cedar chest to survey the prospect of finishing this project, I found that the quilt we mapped out together last summer was looking just slightly small and felt like something was missing...

If I were to be completely honest with myself, for this to really be Zola's Blankie, I would have to add a border of Dove-Tail Pinwheels. It is a special nod to that quilting all-nighter Twila and I spent so many years ago.  Adding a border such as this will ensure as she grows, that this new blankie is big enough for Zola to cozy up with for many nights to come.

November 25th 2014:  ZO kept growing, so I had to keep adding. As I finished this up at 1am this morn, ready to head out here to Colorado for Thanksgiving, I was grateful that it's big enough for her to cozy up under, when she's off at college, or pregnant with her own babies some day.

Tonight it's here with 11 year old Zo, where we will finish edging it together.

February 2015:

Tonight I received a text-image from Twi that I will treasure for the rest of my days, which looks like shall be many.

I will sleep better knowing she has it.

The (not so) Quiet Life?

When I was thirteen, I thought: "What a nice life", as I looked at my best friend's mother, quilting away in a room full of fabric and scattered strands of thread."

Her husband was a professor, and they lead a nice "quiet" life of contentment and season tickets to the community theater.

Fifteen years later, I did indeed find myself married to a professor, and quilting away.

Had I found my nice quiet life of contentment?

Hmmmmm...That is a long story. It didn't actually turn out quite like that...Contentment?

Needles...opps...I mean needless to say, another fifteen years later I am still quilting. I am also raising a son on my own.

I am a dedicated yogi, and instead of a life of classical music, or masterpiece theater, while I quilt I listen to audio books like David Whyte's: "Clear Mind, Wild Heart, or Eckart Tolle's "A New Earth", as my breathing blends with the rhythm of my thread...Yes, I have found much contentment, though not at all the way I expected.

While there is much to be said for following the mechanized patterns we tend to depend on, the art of piecing life together by hand, permitting slight variations, and a little more than a quarter-inch seam allowance, can often make the biggest difference!