The Top Drawer

The furniture in my bedroom was purchased in 1939 by my oldest sister and her husband. They used it every day of their married life, for 42 years. They both died in 1981, six months apart. The furniture was made from solid maple and once had a mellow,golden tone. Since my sister Katrine was an artist, she had a tendency to surround herself with color. She painted this furniture gray and gray it is today. A number of years ago I researched having it refinished to the original hues. But the timing never seemed quite right. So, now it is still gray but worn around the tops of the two posters at the bottom of the bed. That is where hands over the years have used it for guidance, while walking in the dark.

There is a chest of drawers with this furniture and it holds some of my garments. In the top, short, drawer however, it holds a myriad of objects having not much to do with clothing. It is not opened very often and when I do open it - as I did this morning - I am reminded of many things.

The first thing that caught my eye was a picture of the first quilt I ever made. It was made without me knowing one thing about quilting. It fit snugly in a little dolly cradle which I had purchased for Ann Hunter Keaton, my second husband's grandchild. Along with it was a picture of a quilt that I commissioned to be made many years ago by Lydia Organ. Lydia was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Harlan, Ky. She and I became acquainted when I drove her home to Harlan from Lexington, Ky. She had been staying with Katrine during her last days in St. Joseph's hospital. It was a cold, snowy, December day, just a few days before Christmas in 1981. It was a bad day to be driving, but we both wanted to get back to home base. I think my driving in a little blue Ford pinto - with manual shift - on those roads made a better Christian out of Lydia. It was on that trip that we talked about making a quilt for me. I wanted it be interesting, with primary colors.

Over about a year's time Lydia did make the quilt and she used the "around the world" pattern. The back is just as pretty as the front as she quilted around each block which was set "on point". She made the entire quilt by hand using material she had on hand. Quilters always have material on hand! Each time I went to visit I would pay Lydia more for the quilt. The total price was $ 250.00. I dearly love this quilt. It is not quite large enough to cover the bed as far down as I would like, but that does not matter. It may have been the last quilt that Lydia made as she became ill later that year, and died of colon cancer.

Next my eye fell on a beautiful Christmas tree ornament made by my daughter-in-law, Jayne. She used to do that as a hobby and it is very intensive close work which is tiring on the eyes. I do not put up a tree at Christmas anymore but this elegant ornament draws me in to inspect it each time I see it.

I had placed some small boxes in the drawer. The first one I opened had two small metal pins from the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower. I was one of those "I Like Ike" people back then. Ike was a popular hero at the end of the war in 1946.

I had other little boxes in the drawer. I had forgotten what was in them so I opened the first one and the contents sparkled and "spoke" to me. What I saw was a rich blue and silver necklace, which my daughter Bonnie had made for me. It is the sort of jewelry you want to wear to a party. Since I had no party on for today I decided to put it on anyway and also the earrings she made to go with it. Now why would I do such a thing! Maybe because I do not go to many parties anymore which call for elegance. But after a shower and a new attitude, it seems like a fine thing to do. I know this will be a day of staying indoors as we are having storms and a tornado warning is upon us. If a storm does come by, blow my house down, and I am lucky enough to wake up like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I will soon be feeling very elegant in my blue and silver neckace and earrings.

Old Navy Proverb

My second husband had been a Navy pilot in World War II. A bit of wisdom that he brought with him from his Navy days was an expression that no doubt was impressed upon the young flyer's during that time. It was, "plan your work and work your plan". My daughter and I applied that adage to a project we collaborated on this past week-end.

I wanted to commemorate my second grandson's graduation from high school and his entry into college by presenting him with a quilt. My daughter has a talent for color and design and has made many beautiful quilts. When I approached her with the idea she just took it and her mind went to work. We conferred via email on various ideas and also consulted him as to favorite colors, etc. As we had some thoughts from him as well as ideas from her, it all began to take form. She presented me with her idea of how to use blue and stripes as he said those two were appealing to him.

Then she had to get some time off from her work so she talked to the three lawyers she works for and they all agreed on two successive days, a Thursday and Friday. Those two days were last week. Adding on Saturday and Sunday we had four whole days to devote to this project. Setting all other things aside we committed to this time and on the appointed day she appeared at my house loaded with boxes of cut pieces , sewing machine, additional cloth and other necessities of life.

We got right to work, sewing and cutting additional pieces needed for the pattern. As each long piece was sewn together we placed it on the bed and went on to the next one, then some adjustments had to be made as to how they would be placed pleasingly along side each other. It would not look good to have two of the same patterns too close together. Once that was established I did the ironing and made sure all of the seams were pressed in the same direction. Next came the borders for each long piece, after they were sewn on, the outside border was added. In the final analysis we had a fine, extra long quilt, which looked masculine and pleasing to the eye.

Not one to stop with the ordinary, my daughter, always thinking outside of the box came up with the idea of putting some of the design on the backing of the quilt. After trying out several backing materials we could not feel satisfied with any one piece of cloth. So, off we went to the fabric store. Wandering through all of the fabrics I came upon a bolt of backing material 120 inches wide and a beautiful red cotton. I called to her to come and look at this find. She held her fabric samples up to this and out came her favorite descriptive word for something that "works". She said "that makes it POP doesn't it?". And indeed it did. We had been thinking of something in blue and did a complete turn around with the red.

Getting back home and to work, at her direction I helped sew some different sized blocks to go on the red backing. They were just a suggestion of what was on the front but when she had finished the back could be the front it was so beautiful. Feeling very satisfied with our creative endeavor we carefully folded the front and then the back of this reversible quilt. The final sandwiching of the quilt will take place when our machine quilter has it in her hands. She has agreed to do this and when we can make another plan to take it to her we can say we have made our reversible quilt.

So, we planned our work and then we worked our plan. Actually, we worked it better than we had originally planned. My daughter who always thinks outside of the box took the plans to a higher level with the reversible back. I think her nephew, my grandson, will be pleased to own a reversible quilt made by two women who love him and have watched him grow into a responsible, creative young man in his own right.