Step Away From the Quilt!

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I have simply been sucked into a quilt. I don't know what on earth possessed me to hand quilt the very first quilt I ever made! Most likely a case of insanity. Makes me feel like I've been sucked into a time warp. Once I sit down to work on it, the day simply evaporates into yesterday...or last week.

I am only forced to look up when various members of my family shuffle into view and beg and plead their case -they are hungry. To hear them tell the tale, they are near starvation and growing weaker by the moment. Oh where is the mother who once so lovingly prepared delicious feasts accompanied with homemade bread and always a dessert? Alas, she is only a memory. Sigh. This new mother quilts until she is cross-eyed, irons until the seams are flat, and sews until the cows come home. The oven has grown cold. The cupboards are bare.

Finally the pitiful cries are heard, "I want Mama back!" "We're hungry" "What's for dinner?" "Are you STILL quilting?" "Honey, aren't you tired?" "Just how many hours does it take to quilt that thing?!"

She looks up. She blinks. She moves to jump up. Alas, those old bones no longer have the ability to jump. She is growing old and her bones creak in disagreement. She has been in this spot for far too long.

The quilt must wait. She is needed. She turns on the oven. She is wanted. She mixes the bread dough. She is missed. She places the pie on the cooling rack.

Her family is ecstatic - she is back! And she tunes out the voice of the unfinished quilt that lies abandoned, sprawled upon the vacated ottoman as she settles at the table surrounded by her family.

Her daughter turns to her as she passes the bread basket, "Hey Mama, is my quilt almost finished?"