She is a huge football fanatic and loves sports in general so I hope the abstract grid-iron references that I made in previous posts will resonate with her and make this quilt more meaningful to her. Churn dashes are the X's and the concentric rectangles are the O's just like the following chalkboard diagram.
The meandering quilting lines represent the running patterns.
The backing is a batik in a strong pink and a gold-toned yellow. The colors are close, but not quite a match, to the color palette of her beloved 49er's and meant to be symbolic of the team's colors. Also, polka dots are my signature in the quilts I make. These mini-hearts are my form of those dots, sprinkled with a touch of whimsy intended to be a quirky reference to our friendship.
The choice of purple for the side bars and binding is my tongue in cheek allusion to the 1961 poem by Jenny Joseph about women who start to wear purple when they grow old. After all, Vickie's quilt is for a significant birthday!
Warning
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Vickie loves color just as I do. In Christmas 2004 she went to great efforts and to track down, special order, and drive 52 round trip miles (twice) to buy a wool throw from Crate and Barrel for me. I had raved over the colors in it but was reluctant to splurge on buying it for myself and she remembered!
Here she is with her own quilt.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
VICKIE!
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| Vickie also takes a real fancy to hoops&yoyo |
Wow. What a lucky friend! And I know how you love that throw - if she loves that quilt even half as much, it will be a huge success :-) Happy Birthday Vickie!
ReplyDeleteThat quilt turned out great! I love all the colours! I am sure your friend will cherish it!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing another quilt! Have you ever counted up how many quilts you've completed thus far in your life? I'm sure the number is very high!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Vickie! We were glad to see her when we were visiting a few weeks ago.
Also, I LOVE hoops & yoyo. Snoopy, however, hates them - ha ha!