I Hate to Sew

     Honestly, I do hate to sit at a sewing machine and try to make something come together like it does in my brain.

       I never wanted to sew.  My mom was a very good seamstress who made all of her clothes, my wedding dress, christening gowns, life sized Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, you name it, she did it.  Except for men's clothing. She didn't do that.  And she didn't sew for people outside the family because, she said,  "they want it for nothing."  People who don't sew - or while we're at it, quilt - don't have any idea what the cost to US and time and labor means.  So, I don't blame mom for that. I did always have a creative streak. Always needed to use my hands to be doing something. When I was ten years old a neighbor taught me how to knit and a year or so later my mom decided I needed to learn how to sew and signed me up for classes.
      I hated it. I cried during the class. The whole class. The whole time. Honestly, truly, I was a shy kid (ok, those of you who know me, you can stop laughing, but none of you knew me then.)  I didn't like being away from home (but give me a plane ticket now and I won't even ask the destination.) and still don't.  PH always says I'm good for about three days then I want to go home.
     Well, this sewing class was a disaster.  I made a skirt that didn't fit. A simple A-line but even then I subtracted a little when I looked in the mirror. No, I'm not basing my opinion on that first attempt, I've had many attempts over the years.
       At some point when we were newly married and the kids were babies and everyone was wearing knits I remember making little t-shirts but that was the extent of it. You know, I used to say I didn't have to know how to sew because my mom did everything.  I smocked, she put the garment together. I found fabric I liked and handed it to her at the front door and walked around to the back door and the garment was done. 
     When she stopped sewing she kept after me to take her sewing machine.  I never did.  It went with the other things in her house after she died.  I hated sewing enough to never want that piece of furniture sitting in the corner staring at me.  When I sat down at the sewing machine I ended up with a sore neck, stiff back and my voice was hoarse from swearing.

 

     One day I realized if I was ever going to own a quilt I had to make it myself so I took a class with Friend Marge 18 years ago to prove to myself I wouldn't like the process.  Quilting looked like it would be way too slow.  This class had no sewing machines in it.  Everything was done by hand.  Cutting templates, tracing them onto the fabric, cutting with scissors, marking 1/4 inch sewing lines on the fabric bits and threading a needle to connect them together.  I was hooked.  It was faster than I thought it would be, I loved the colors of the fabrics, I loved the slowness of it.  Dang. I was going to be a quilter.
     My first quilts have never been touched by a machine.  Even the binding was sewn on by hand.  Then one day I asked PH for a very simple, very basic, very portable little machine that I could sew binding onto quilts with.  That's all I wanted.  That's all I still want.  It's been used at times to make string quilts.  I've used it to attach a wide border now and then. When we were expecting Charlie into the family I started to applique and knew the piecing was going to be an accent, not the focus from then on.

    This week almost broke me.  We have this free standing platform kind of deck looking thing in the back.  It's the ONLY space on this property that gets sun in the afternoon and it can be very hot up there. It's also not easy to get to but the kids like to play up there.
     I was asked to put something up there for a little shade so I went looking for cheap sheets and found two sets for just a couple of dollars.  The poles were another matter.  I knew what I wanted but it was a fortune (for me) so plan B was pvc pipes.  Yes, they are bending.  No, I don't care. I found a couple of dowels laying around that I slid into the poles for internal support but they still bend a little.

     I cut the sheets into 12.5 inch squares and sewed them together in a patchwork.  Look how color coordinated they are and I got one at Goodwill and one at Salvation Army! I thought it went well except for the time it took to sew it together and wrestling with a piece that was 12 feet long.  Oh, my aching neck.
     When PH and I went up there to attach it the thing was huge.  Bring it down, cut. Take it up, too big. Bring it down, cut. Take it up, too big.  Bring it down, cut.  Now I'm getting mad.   I actually took a sheer curtain off a window in the house and dragged it up there to see if it would work any better.  It will work, it's going to be Plan C.

      For now, it's up, it covers half of the space leaving some sun for the tomatoes growing in a big washtub up there, the girls will take over and

 I can sit and look at my new bed of lavender we planted this spring.

     All in all, eventually it worked, taking way longer than I wanted it to and my back aches and my neck hurts and it reinforced my feeling about sewing machines.