sports – Quest Quilts

Empty Bobbins: A friend with no name

Empty bobbins are moments in life where we pause and reflect. It’s like when your bobbin runs out in the middle of a project, and you have to pause everything you’re doing to reload. Here’s one such reflective moment. This is a moment from a couple of weeks ago when my son went to soccer camp.

So my son, five, played one season of soccer a couple of years ago he liked it but seemed distracted. Most of the time he just ran around the back part of the group and blended in with the herd. After that we didn’t hear about soccer again until this past school year. Well during the week there was just too much going on, so we agreed that a week soccer camp, blessedly at an indoor facility, would be a good start to get back into the game.

Well he loved it. He was tired, sweaty, and pleased as punch. I was happy to see he was running and keeping up with the other kids. As he walked back to the car with me, he was telling me about his friend whom he’d pointed out earlier. I asked, “What was her name?” He thought, shrugged, and casually said, “I don’t know.” And then he went on telling me the games they played in camp and such. I laughed at the fact that he didn’t even know the name of his so-called “friend”.

Well a couple of days later, as we were walking back to the car again, he pointed at a couple of little boys and said, “those are my friends, too!” They rolled down the window and waved to him. Once more I asked, “Well, what are their names?” He looked off and muttered, “I don’t know.” It didn’t even phase him.

My first impulse was to laugh, but I stopped short because his face was serious as his thoughts were elsewhere. And here I realized the biggest difference between myself and my little boy’s outlook – and as a result the outlooks of children versus adults. He didn’t need to know their names to determine they were friends.

As adults, we often ask all about a person to determine how good of a friend that person will be. We need to know how much we have in common, make connections, and be able to see part of ourselves in that person in order to bond. But for my son and his friends, they didn’t need to know all that. They only needed to know that this person wanted to be a friend. So much so that they forgot to ask about the most basic information – a name. That simple bond made me smile and consider how we, as adults, would be better off if we could remember that same rule.

What if the fact that we wanted to be friends was enough of a basis for a friendship?

Makes you wonder.

Braves T-shirt Quilt

This quilt was made from an unexpected gift! A friend called me, said she was going through her house and cleaning it out, and asked if I wanted some shirts. Some were from the 1996 Olympic games when Georgia hosted. Growing up in Georgia, I cannot begin to convey how much the Olympics occupied my youth from when it was announced at Atlanta would host until the actual games in ’96. I still have the Olympic shirts and will make a quilt with them at some point.

The other half of the shirt-treasure hoard was a lot of Braves shirts leading up to when they won the World Series in 1995. I loved how four of them were reproduced images from the front of the Atlanta Journal Constitution with the big headlines and iconic images of the team. Just like the Olympics, I remember the Braves being a huge deal and them winning a cause for celebration, especially as they’d come just shy of it several times. These shirts brought back so many of those memories. My husband really really wanted them and was remiss when I let him know they were not meant for him.

In addition to the newspaper shirts and the official World Series shirt, I found two more generic Braves shirts, and I included a jersey from my own closet that I knew I would never wear again. It was 100% polyester, and the last time I’d worn it I was pregnant at a Braves games in 102 degree weather. No joyful memory association there – let me tell you….

I wanted the newspaper shirts to have the most attention, so I refused to crop them and instead let their size dictate the rest of the blocks. After that, the jersey dictated the size of the center row. I decided against using Braves trademarked fabric because of copyright reasons, and I went with a mottled red flannel instead.

When I put this on display in my craft fair booth, I had some fun at the expense of some of our more local shenanigans. It did eventually sell at one of the craft shows last fall.

Stadium Quilts

I know I mentioned “stadium quilts” in a previous post, so I figured I’d go ahead and discuss them. As said before, the whole idea of a stadium quilt is that it is usually in school colors and is 4’x4′. This isn’t the usual size of a lap quilt, but the logic was that at 4’x4′ it would be big enough to cover your lap while sitting on those wonderfully comfortable bleachers at football games while also being small enough not to drag around or have folks stepping on them. Of course, they also happen to be the perfect size for draping over the back of a couch or chair.

I happen to work for a particularly large school system that has over 20 different high schools. (This still baffles me as I graduated from an area with one high school for the whole darn county!) That being said, I figured that if I stuck to the basic colors of the local schools I’d happen to catch most professional and college team colors as well. One thing I know for sure – you Buckeye fans sure do love your Etsy stores. I probably get more hits on my Etsy store from Buckeye fans than from any other team.

When I decided to make the stadium quilt, I had two goals in mind. 1. Make some smaller quilts to sell ready-made on Etsy as well as at craft shows. My original lot was around 14 or so. 2. Use up as much of my fabric stash as I could without buying any more except for backing. I’ve mostly stuck to this, but I haven’t been able to resist the occasional gold or gray since they’re so wonderfully useful. I’ve also taken to strolling by the remnant bin at JoAnn’s and seeing if there’s any generic quilting fabric that is handy. The remnant bin and I are now officially old friends.

I also took some time and experimented with a new design – the “split rail,” aka the “rail fence.” I really liked it and had fun using it more. I also experimented using both cotton backing and flannel. After all, if the idea was to stay warm during games, then flannel was the way to go. In addition to my newfound appreciation for flannel, I also found that I simply LOVE crepe back satin. I used it in a couple of quilts and like the texture and sheen of it.

One color combo I was surprised looked as good as it did was the orange and blue. For the back of it, I found an orange and white tie-dye style flannel, and it looked great! I do think the rail fence styles look prettier overall.

orange and blue stadium quilt – rail fence style

green, gold, and navy blue checkerboard stadium quilt

blue, gray, and white stadium quilt – quarters style

purple and gray stadium quilt – rail fence style

Red, gray, and white stadium quilt – rail fence style

Red, gray, and white stadium quilt – quarters style

Maroon and gold checkerboard stadium quilt

Related Posts – mostly about using up your fabric stash:

Tierney Creates

Katy Quilts

Current projects…

My current situation is strange – much stranger than usual. I have a crafting weekend at the end of March, and last time I spent too much time cutting and not sewing. So this time I plan on mostly sewing. To get a head start, I’ve been making “kits” of precut fabric all ready to assemble. I’m up to 14 kits in various stages of readiness.

Last year I made around 14 4’x4′ quilts I called “stadium quilts”. The idea was that they were all in local school colors and could be used at games. They were big enough to cover a lap but small enough not to drag on the stadium steps. I’ve sold all those, so I plan on making more as well as some traditional lap quilt sizes. I’ve been having fun and trying to use up a fair amount of my stash to boot!

I think the kits are definitely the way to go. I have already “broken in to” a couple of them.

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