7 Dark Roses - Free Audio ebooks

Crafty Crafts

Charlie Rainbow Wolf

Yule is often the time of year when those who haven’t seen each other for a while make a special effort to try to get together. Fellowship and sharing are part of the festivities, and every culture has their own stories and traditions to share. It’s a time for celebrating the return of the light; what better way to do this than with an activity to warm both the heart and the hearth?

When I lived in England, I spent many summer weekends traveling throughout the country working different folk festivals. On several occasions, I had the pleasure of engaging with Taffy Thomas, MBE, a Welsh folk story raconteur who wore an amazing coat. It was called his tale coat—and later spawned his book Taffy’s Coat Tales. The tale coat is a truly remarkable garment, a long and flared cloak created by master artist Paddy Killer and depicting dozens of the stories Taffy told to his captivated audience.

The first time I saw Taffy was in an exhibition tent. A small child came up to him and pointed to a circular design on this coat and simply asked, “What’s that?” Taffy burst into performance, leaving us all spellbound with one of his delightful tales.

Story Quilts

Story quilts fit nicely into Yuletide traditions for a myriad of reasons. Of course, the gift giving comes into it, as do the seasonal tales from around the world, but more than that, so does the fellowship. These quilts needn’t be as elaborate as Taffy’s tale coat, either!

One way to incorporate story quilting into Yuletide activities is to ask everyone to bring a scrap of fabric to make a friendship story quilt. These don’t even have to be squares or pieces of themed fabric; there’s such a thing called a “crazy quilt,” where the abstract pieces of fabric are sewn in haphazard ways, and the only order to the design is at the edges, to get them straight.

Unlike Taffy’s tale coat, this project does not have to be something that is worn. A story quilt is simply a quilt that tells a tale. It might be a careful selection of themed fabrics, or simply old scraps representational of something very personal. I have seen very simple nine-patch quilts tell the most compelling stories, the pattern on each small square representing a hobby, an activity, or an event from that person’s life.

Materials

Fabric: This does not have to be expensive. Anything from old jeans or cotton shirts to purpose-bought themed fabric will work. It doesn’t matter whether you are upcrafting something from an existing stash or buying something special, just ensure the quality is good.

Thread: Quilter’s thread is the best; all-purpose thread will also work. Try to avoid the overly inexpensive thread as it tends to tangle and break.

Needles: These are called “sharps” and a packet with several sizes in it is not expensive; that way you can work out what seems to be the best fit for the project.

Cost: This is entirely up to you; scrap quilts made from items you have on hand could cost nothing more than time; if you purchase expensive fabric and a new sewing machine, then the cost will skyrocket.

Time spent: Anywhere from a few hours to several months, depending on the size of the quilt and how involved you want it to be.

Quilt Stories

I’ve had two story quilts in my life, and one is still in my possession some forty years later. It’s a quilt that my late mother pieced together. In it’s squares I see my old Job’s Daughters bandana, the fabric of my Girl Scout dress, the material my maid of honor wore at my first wedding, a piece of my babysitter’s dress, and so very much more. It’s the story of my youth, my activities, and the neighbors around us, for some of their scraps went into the construction of the piece. I’ve tried to note what the fabric pieces are (without writing on the quilt of course) so that my daughter will understand what a treasure it has been when it eventually passes along to her.

The other story quilt I had was just as much of a story, but constructed very differently. Every piece measured a foot square, and it contained the names of my friends. They signed the fabric, and then I stitched over their names to quilt the front piece to the back piece.

My friend Debby did a different kind of story quilting. She took the themes from someone’s life and cross-stitched them onto a large framed piece of aida (a special fabric for hand stitching) for the recipient to either hang as a framed piece of art or incorporate into a throw or other quilt. Her designs were caricatures of the people she was featuring—very entertaining, and beautiful at the same time.

Any of these would be suitable for the quilt project, as is resurrecting the idea of an autograph quilt, inviting everyone to either sign the fabric to be stitched later or to actually sew their own name onto something. To ensure everyone has something to take home with them, think smaller than an actual quilt; think quilted placemats or table runners. That way everyone could sign everyone else’s fabric, and all attendees would have a keepsake.

If this is to be something worked on as a coven or a grove, consider a communal project. Everyone could bring their own piece to stitch, or—like the autograph quilt—it could be one large project that everyone works on simultaneously. Quilting bees of old were a wonderful time for socializing as well as for making the quilt! Think of it as a “year and a day” activity, started Yule this year and finished Yule next year. It could be a central table covering for future feasts or have some other group ritual use.

A story quilt does not have to be a group activity. If your spiritual practice is one of solitude, create a personal story quilt by including fabrics, designs, and stitches that mean something to you. It’s very soothing to sit inside on a cold and dark night with a piece of needlework, contemplating your path and letting the fabric and stitches tell your tale.

Quilt fabric needn’t be expensive. Any fabric works, providing it is structurally sound. If you choose the autograph quilt, bed sheets and batting—the filling between the layers that makes the actual warmth of the quilt—are easily obtainable from retailers online or in stores. To go a bit fancier with the theme, you might ask everyone to purchase a fat quarter (a quilter’s measure of fabric) that means something special to them. One fat quarter would make several smaller pieces for the quilt.

My advice would be to keep things simple to start. A nine-patch square (think “tic-tac-toe” board) is one of the easiest and most common quilt patterns, and the patches can be put together in very attractive ways by clever use of color. Do a bit of research, and have some fun with this. After all, you’re not just making a quilt, you’re making a memory.