As I sit working on presents for friends and family, I reflect on my quilting journey. My love of sewing started in high school when I learned to sew and make clothes. I loved figuring out materials and patterns, but college and full time teaching put my hobby on a high, dusty shelf.
Fast forward to when my youngest child began attending school full time, and I started looking for things to occupy my time between drop off and pick up. We were stationed at Fort Irwin, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, 45 minutes from the nearest road to civilization. My husband was in the field two weeks every month. Jobs were few and far between for the hours I was available. So, I started volunteering with MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers).
I met an Army spouse who created quilts each year for the group’s theme. Her creativity was genuinely amazing. Several of us asked her to teach us how to quilt. She agreed, and my quilting journey or, as some would call it, obsession began.
She sent us a list of things to gather. First on the list was to get a sewing machine. I had my faithful machine I bought when I was in high school. It did all the stitches I needed, and when I turned it on, it brought back memories. Memories of clothes I made, how to do different stitches, how to cut fabric. I decided I would only need one lesson before heading out on my merry way to becoming a quilting queen.
Little did I know…
For our first meeting, we all went to the “nearby” quilt shop, about 60 minutes from the post, to purchase the supplies we needed to begin quilting. Our teacher started using terms I had never heard. Terms like background fabric, applique, backing, batting, batiks, paper piecing, and so many more. I realized I had much to learn and vowed to stick with this group for all the lessons.
Our first day of actual class was fantastic. We sewed, we learned, we talked, and we worked. I met an Air Force spouse, a National Guard spouse, and other Army spouses. We all came from different places. Some had sewing experience, while others did not know how to thread their machine. We all wanted to learn to quilt, so that was our common ground and became our common language.
We met for eight weeks to make blocks and build our quilts. By the last class, we were all friends, and each of us planned to work on more quilts. We all came to the class at different points in our lives but left feeling like we could quilt.
I get this same feeling every time we PCS. I arrive at a new duty station with specific experiences, skills, and dreams. I leave each home with new friends, experiences, dreams, and hopefully, new skills to share at the next duty station. Quilting was just one passion I developed along my military journey. What is yours? Who helped you get started?
