The Finish

Dear Timothy,

Your cloth is finished!

I was trying my best to finish by the end of August. So I guess going over two days is good enough. I did my best. 

Your cloth turned out quiet large. As a matter of fact I had a hard time getting photos of the whole cloth. Turns out the only place that worked was in the Garden Palace on the parlor floor around noon.

Green Moons Forest

Around the big green moon

Dragoneosorus

dra-gone-o-so-rus

On the Back

Corners

Timothy, as with many of my big projects, at the very end and when all is finished and done, I am left without words for a few days. However, I will share here one revelation that merely came to me while trying to get final photos. 

It is about the dueling dragons. It is simple and only you and I will understand. I now recognize their symbolic presence on the backside. They came quietly from the dye pot and when they did, we both knew what they were. But who were they? They are us. You and me. Timothy and Nana. The dueling dragons. 

A Garden Path

Dear Timothy,

I left a narrow section between the log cabin and the fence border with several thoughts in mind about a connection. When the time came, well I'll just say that sometimes what is in my mind and what shows up in real life makes no connection. 

So I was back to square one, so to speak. Until out of the clear blue I remembered a left over piece of fabric that just might be so perfect.  And it was. 

I added a garden path around the log cabin. A garden path with leaves and flowers falling over it. I added a little bit of me and my love of flowers on the backside. And instead of a straight stitch quilting I am enhancing the leaf and floral design with simple embroidery stitching. 

Here it is. Five years ago I made myself and a dear friend an art apron with this gifted fabric. The textile design is very unique and I loved it so much that I really didn't think I could ever think of anything special enough to use the left over piece. It thrills me to add this garden path to the backside of your cloth. It feels just right and the perfect connection.  

I Think I Can I Think I Can

Dear Timothy,

Cause for celebration! I reached the last backside corner. All of the stitches from the front side are now well hidden with the stitching down of Grand Pa's shirts. I continue to stitch and stitch. I can see the end. "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." 

Tim, I hope you remember the message in the child's book, The Little Engine That Could. It is a good lesson about hard work, thinking positive and perseverance.

Border Fence

Dear Timothy,

It's true. When it was time to flip it over and continue on the backside, I procrastinated. Not a good thing. 

But then at the beginning of 2015, I decided it was time to finish. I am determined to finish this year. 

So I sat many hours by the fireside and stitched. 

Then I stopped again. 

But here I am in June stitching. I finished the log cabin middle section. My plan was to create a fence-like border around the log cabin using Grandpa's shirt sleeves. I wanted them to look different so I did not run them through a green dye pot. 

You may remember when I started the backside using the shirt backs, I told you, "always know that GP's got your back". I thought a lot about that when I started the border fence with the shirt sleeves. Things like, now GP's got his arms around you. And I thought a lot about fencing things in or out and how symbolic that seems. I thought about borders and boundaries. 

I know, crazy Nana again. But do remember he is strong and I hope you will always feel his love as if his arms are really around you.  

Wishing Stars

Wish Number One

Dear Timothy,
I was inspired to add three wishing stars to your cloth. The thing is, I couldn't visualize what the stars would look like nor where to put them. 

Thinking I would add three small stars to the Jungle somewhere, I thought to rummage in the box of small scraps that I keep handy.  

Three Wishes.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered these three stars in the box. I had forgotten all about them. And if I had remembered, I would not have had a clue where to look for them. I put them in the box in the first place because I wanted to incorporate them in your quilt. Up to now, I could not visualize where to include them. 

I can't be for sure who pieced these stars. That is I'm not sure if it was one of your great grandmothers or my Granny. My Granny is your great great grandmother. What I do know is I made myself a top with the red, white and blue cloth in the middle star. And I recognize the plaids in the other two stars. I can see my Mother in those blouses as if it were yesterday. 

These three stars are beautifully hand pieced and near 50 years old. Serendipity is an odd feeling. These stars were just waiting for me as if I would know what to do with them when the time came. 

And I did. I knew immediately. I pieced the three stars together, called them wishing stars and included them on the backside where the traditional log cabin quilt pattern is growing. A perfect place for these vintage, four-point stars. 

Never stop wishing Tim. Wishes can come true. 

Dueling Dragons

Dear Timothy,

The log cabin is growing. I now have to piece the shirt strips together to have a piece of the same shirt long enough to add. Slowly but surely I hope to finish this in our lifetime. 

 I really didn't think there would be a story on the backside as I only intended to quilt it to cover the messiness. 

But look! Dueling dragons. I thought that was what they were and I was thrilled when you saw the dye bath splotches and said they looked like dragons. 

Tim, I love that our imagination is "in sync".

Rorschach Inkblot

Dear Timothy,
I am making progress quilting the backside of your cloth where my story continues to develop. 

First of all, you probably won't recognize that I am adding the pieces of Grand Pa's shirt backs in a traditional Log Cabin patchwork design. When I planned this, it did not occur to me how symbolic the log cabin would be. In this case, GP's shirts representing home is so meaningful in a way only you might understand. 

I knew when this shirt came out of the dye bath it would take center stage. I saw the figure. I knew the flowers were about me. But the heart shape face had me perplexed; therefore, I left that area unstitched until last week when I finally understood the simple fact that this is the backside of the cloth and of course is the backside of the figure.

Today, as I look at this square I realize how much this looks like a Rorschach inkblot. My mind is tumbling with that thought and what my interpretation of it means about me. 

Tim, just know that sometimes we have to wait for inspiration. And I think you should also remember that everything we do says something about us. 

GP's Got Your Back

Dear Timothy,
I've known for a long time that I would use GP's old shirts for the back side of your cloth. But first I needed to over dye them in a green bath to bring them together in a color-way.  I ripped the backs from the shirts to start with, holding in reserve the fronts and arms. 

Tim, always know that GP's "got your back".  

I had no idea until I placed the first shirt back onto the center of the backside how attached I was to the stitches showing there. I frequently flipped it over to admire my handiwork. Aside from being beautiful in my eyes, to see all those stitches was some way of measuring my progress. Whenever I share your cloth with anyone, I always flip it for their response to the gazillion stitches. 

The stitches are becoming on the inside as I cover them with new stitches and GP's shirt backs.

Tim, sometimes we have to let go and just keep the beauty an inside memory.

Sometimes, I can't leave well-enough alone. I really thought I wanted to add color. I rolled and wrapped with twine this shirt-back before dropping it into the green dye bath. And I was getting excited about the image that emerged. I was thinking about how a story was coming forth on the backside of your cloth. And how this story was about me, the maker of Tim's Cloth.  And you know all of my stories are in color. But now, I wish I had resisted the color and just kept stitching. 

Tim, I'm going to remember that sometimes I should resist my first impulses. And maybe you should too. But most of all, I'm going to remember that "there is always two sides to every story".