Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Sitting on Quilts

Do you remember a book from probably the 80's called "The It's OK If You Sit On My Quilt Book"?  It was written by Mary Ellen Hopkins, who at the time was a quilting teacher and innovator who made it easier for women to do what they wanted to do.

She also wrote A Log Cabin Notebook, Connecting Up, Continuing On, and other books that built on the skills learned from It's OK If You Sit On My Quilt.


I was thinking about that on Sunday, sitting on quilts.  Our Pastor is doing a four part series where he's preaching on the lessons that can be learned from children's books.  Four different books are being read during the children's message that happens just before the sermon starts.  The books are being read by different teachers from the preschool and Sunday School. 

He asked if it was OK with our quilt guild if he took out one of our quilts to have the children sit on it during the reading.  I said, I think it's exactly the right thing to do!  I think quilts should be sat upon!  And used.  And loved.

The first book was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  This is one of my youngest granddaughter's favorite books.  It's about the lower case letters of the alphabet and how they follow each other up a tree.  There are too many of them and they all fall out.  Their parents, the capital letters, come and rescue their little darlings.  It's a fun read.  The book is brightly colored, and it coordinated with the brightly colored quilt he chose to use.

The second book was Goodnight Moon.  Anyone who's ever had a child that didn't want to sleep has read them Goodnight Moon. Quilts and going to sleep... a natural fit!


The third book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  This Eric Carle book is probably familiar to quilters, as there was a lovely bright colorful fabric line made to coordinate with the book a few years ago.  A child could have book and quilt together.  Eric Carle also uses pieces of brightly colored fabrics in his illustrations for the other books he wrote.


It's my privilege to read the last book this week.  It's Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree.  I do love Shel Silverstein's work... Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of the favorites to read when my daughter was small. 

I had never read The Giving Tree.  It must have been some lack in my upbringing, because I think the book has been around for a while...

It's a lovely story.  But you know if you have read Silverstein that he illustrates his books in line drawings.  No color!  I wonder if I need a black and white quilt??  How quickly can I sew it up??  LOL!

The quilts I make are definitely for sitting on.  I don't quilt for posterity, just for people I love, so if you have one of my quilts, I hope you're using it for the purpose it was intended --

Or as Fonzie used to say, Sit On It!!

Sew on...