Jeana’s Journal

Since we moved here a few years ago my reference library of quilt books has been stored in boxes in the basement. My old bookcases were in very bad shape from having been moved twice and, frankly, they were functional at best. The old bookcases would have looked out of place wherever I had put them in our new house. So I put that problem in the back of my mind and left the bookcases in the garage and my books packed away in the basement.

From time-to-time I have rummaged through the boxes of books to find a specific title. Whatever book I retrieved, it never seemed to make it back into the basement. Just like seeing an old friend, I didn’t want to loose track of it again. And so, in my sewing room, there were mounting piles of books with no place live.

Almost a year ago I accompanied my daughter-in-law to a new “big box” furniture store that had opened in the City and it was there that I found the solution to my problem. Ikea specializes in inexpensive storage solutions and it was there that I found the perfect bookcase for my books.

I knew the exact place in my house where it would fit. There is a long empty wall behind the door in the bedroom that is too narrow for a piece of furniture. It has looked bare and empty—until now. The bookcase is only 11 inches deep, it has glass doors to protect the books, it has height extensions to provide storage and display space from floor to ceiling and, best of all, it fits, as if custom-made for that spot.

I waited and I waited for my rebate check from Pres. Bush before buying the bookcases and to do my part in stimulating our nation’s economy. Finally! Last month our rebate check arrived and the bookcases were finally mine.

I cannot tell you how much fun it was unpacking each of those boxes and finding long-lost friends. Each book was new again. The process was extremely slow because I could not resist at least thumbing through the pages of every book before putting it on the shelf.

When I began quilting many years ago I found my best quilting resource was quilt history books with lots of pictures of antique quilts in them. I have thumbed through all of my books numerous times and it seems that each time through I have seen or learned something new.

From my quilt books I have learned history—both about quilts and our culture. I have learned design problem solving and effective use of color and fabric. I have read about the lives of women who went this way before me and who left a part of themselves in their quilts and their words.

I am inspired again—working on new ideas and getting much less sleep these days.

Below is a quote that I love from one of the older books in my collection. The book is The Standard Book of Quiltmaking and Collecting by Margaret Ickis.

Margaret quotes “one great grandmother back in Ohio” who said: ‘It took me more than twenty years, nearly twenty-five, I reckon,’ she told me softly, ‘in the evenings after supper when the children were all put to bed. My whole life is in that quilt. It scares me sometimes when I look at it. All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces. When I was proud of the boys and when I was downright provoked and angry with them. When the girls annoyed me or when they gave me a warm feeling around my heart. And John too. He was stitched into that quilt and all the thirty years we were married. Sometimes I loved him and sometimes I sat there hating him as I pieced the patches together. So they are all in that quilt, my hopes and fears, my joys and sorrows, my loves and hates. I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me.’”

Amen.