Quilts Are Like Stories

 

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month by reading, writing,  sharing, and celebrating poetry each day this month. Many years ago I was a quilter. After I began teaching, I had to put my needles and frames away because I just did not have the time. This year I am going back to my quilting roots and will be playing with patchwork-themed poems from memories of my own quilting years to the history of quilts and to quilt patterns. Pull up a needle and thread and let's stitch awhile.

I have been searching for memories and for clues as to when I began quilting. I know it was after my daughter was born as I remember quilting while she was napping. I also remember her playing under the quilting frame set up in the living room.

Although I don't remember the time, I do remember my first quilt. My first project was a pillow, and the stitching was horrid. But I was determined to learn how to do this. And to do it well!

My next project was a lap quilt. It was easy to piece - all squares and rectangles. My goal was to have straight stitches and 12 stitches to an inch!  I ended up hanging it over our Cracker Barrell rockers on the front porch, and it became sun-damaged. But I still have it tucked away and it will always be remembered as the one where I cut my quilting teeth!

For this quilt, I wrote a Skinny, an eleven-lined poem, that represents the line of stitching that runs through the quilt square

Quilts are like stories
they
stitch
our
lives
they
hold
our 
memories
they
are story-like quilts.

©Leigh Anne Eck, 2021

This week also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. Last year was my first year participating, and since I lived to tell about it, I will participate again this year! You can find the poem's trail below.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All