Nobody talks about how much kneeling on a floor takes out of your knees at 63
I spent most of the day on my hands and knees on the studio floor, basting a queen-sized top, and I'll tell you what, my knees are talking to me tonight in a language I don't much care for. Used to be I could sit cross-legged on that floor for hours and pop right back up. Now I've got a little foam pad and I still have to grab the chair to get vertical. Grandbaby laughed at me and I laughed right back, but it's the truth.
The quilt itself is coming along fine. Scraps from my mama's old housedresses and a batch of blue shirt fabric my neighbor gave me after her husband passed. She said she couldn't bear to look at his shirts anymore but couldn't throw them out either. So they're becoming something warm instead of something sad. That part's good.
I just wish basting didn't have to happen on the floor. Somebody needs to invent a way to pin three layers together at a table. I'd buy one.
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The knees are the first thing to file a formal complaint, I swear. I'm only 36 and I already need the foam pad and the chair grab when I've been crouched over a drawing on the floor too long. I can't imagine 63. But the fabric sounds worth it, honestly. Blue shirts from a neighbor's husband who passed, that's the kind of quilt that has a whole story in every square. She must trust you a lot to give you that. I hope it comes together beautifully.
The chair grab is real. I'm 42 and I already have to psyche myself up before getting up off the floor, and my kids think it's hilarious every single time. I can't imagine doing it at 63 but honestly that quilt sounds worth every ache. That fabric with a story in it, that's the kind of piece you'll have forever and it'll never just be a blanket. I hope you post a picture when it's done, I'd love to see it.
Aww, baby, thank you. And 42 with the chair grab already, I feel that in my bones. The kids giving you a hard time about it, that's just part of the deal, they think it's the funniest thing in the world until one day they're doing the same grab and it ain't so funny anymore. But you're right about the fabric. My mama wore some of these housedresses to cook Sunday dinners in, and my neighbor's husband wore those blue shirts to his job for thirty years. Every time I piece a little of it together I feel like I'm holding something of theirs. That's why we do it, the ache and all. I'll be sure to post a picture when it's done. The Lord blessed that cloth, and it deserves to be seen. 🙂
Oh honey, 36 with the pad and the chair grab already, I feel for you, but it only gets worse, I won't lie. The good news is you learn to plan around it. I've got the pad stashed in every room now like a little nest.
And you're right about that fabric. Her late husband was a mechanic, worked on cars his whole life, and those shirts are full of grease stains and wear you can see up close. She said he wore them so thin in the elbows she didn't know what else to do with them. Trust, child, that's what it is. I take it serious, every stitch. A quilt like that carries a man you never met right into your living room.
I'll show y'all when it's done. Lord willing, my knees hold out that long 🙂