seeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!!

Written Sunday May 1st -

Quilting - not really a term they have here in Honduras, but, nevertheless, I explained how to make an Attic Window quilt to my host mom today! I knew that my host mom liked quilting because throughout my time here, I have seen her working on different projects. She makes pillows - almohadas. A few years ago, American women came to La Villa and taught some of the ladies here how to sew (quilt). So, since then my host mom has been making pillows and fixing clothes for people. There are some extreme differences between what my host mom does here and how my family and I make quilts in the states, though. I have been helping make quilts since I was about 11 years old when we made a graduation quilt for my sister, Harmony. So, that is 12 years of experience. The last quilt I made, which was my absolute favorite, was raffled off and made me more than $1000 to prepare for my trip to Honduras. This quilt was an Attic Window. It was the first time I had made that kind of quilt, and I’m going to toot my own horn a little bit here, but it turned out amazing - I didn’t want to raffle it off. So, this beautiful quilt that I made, that looks intimidating and difficult, only took me two days - and then one more day for my family to help me tie it…so in total: 3 days.

I showed my host mom a picture of this quilt because it popped up in a batch of pictures I was showing my little host cousin. My host mom was so impressed - she said it looked like she was looking in windows. And I explained to her that that was exactly what it was supposed to look like and that it is just the way you sew the fabrics together. She was so intrigued. So, we went into her room and looked through all her fabric as I explained to her how to make this type of quilt square. She understood completely the needed a dark, medium and light color because one of the projects the American women had taught her before had the same requirement. (Keep in mind that this whole conversation took place in Spanish). So, I could see that my mom was very interested in how to make this type of quilt square, so we made a date for Sunday afternoon for me to teach her.

I cut out pieces of paper in the shapes of what was needed for the square - which is simple. You only need three pieces of fabric: one square and two long rectangles. She pulled out the fabrics that she wanted to use and I told her the dimensions that they needed to be, but I don’t work in cm, so luckily she had a measuring tape in inches, too. This is where the first big difference between my kind of quilting in the states and her quilting comes in. She pulled out a measuring tape, a ruler, some chalk, and her fabric and set to forming a square 8x8 to cut out of the fabric. Not having all the nifty gadgets we have in the states makes quilting a much longer process - also, the pieces that are cut out are never exact. I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to quilting, or I try to be anyway, so it was a hard for me to watch my host mom cut out an oblong square, but there was no other way that she could do it, so I just had to go with it. After the pieces were cut out, I pinned them together to show her how it all worked. How you need to sew one side down, but not all the way, and then sew the other side down - again, not all the way. Then you have to flip it over and sew the “mitered edge,” (I think that is what it is called, but sure wasn’t going to try translating that into Spanish!) She understood and wanted to try it out, so I unpinned it all and re-pinned one side down with a mark of where she needs to stop sewing. This was where the other big difference between sewing in the states and sewing here came in. My host mom’s sewing machine is not a normal just plug-into-the-wall-and-go sewing machine - she has an actual foot peddle that she has to use to make the needle go. I thought it was awesome to watch her do it. She does it so smoothly and easily - when I tried, it was just a mess. I did not have the coordination needed for that.

So, she sewed down the first side and then I pinned the other side for her and she sewed that one as well. Then I flipped the square over and showed her how you go about sewing the mitered edge. With the ruler and the chalk, we drew a line where she needed to sew, and then she just went right on and did it. When we flipped it over and it looked like a window, she was so excited.

After we finished that square she asked me all sorts of questions about how many she would need for a queen size bed and how I made my boarders on the one I made, and what she should use for the back of it, and how she makes sure the stuffing inside doesn’t move around. This was where it got a little more challenging for me. I had to explain about the batting and the back of a quilt and how to tie it so that batting didn’t move around - but again, I had to do this all in Spanish. I did it, but mostly with a lot of demonstrating rather than talking. BUT, she understood what I was describing and went into her room and pulled out an old quilt to ask if that was what I meant. And, yes, yes it was!

So, all in all, today was a good day. Yes, I may have been infected with lice like I explained in the previous blog, but teaching my host mom how to make an Attic Window quilt and having her do it and understand what I was explaining made the day a complete success in my eyes.

My host mom, Gloria, with her attic window quilt square!