The Tie Quilt

When the world shut down,

My mom and I went into the attic and began to clean.

We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned,

Throwing out trashcans full of trash,

Filling up car loads of boxes to take to the thrift store.

 

In the process of cleaning, we unearthed hundreds of my dad’s old ties.

We thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could turn these into a quilt?”

 

Around the same time,

I was chatting with my friend Heidi the Librarian and

Realized that she was a quilter.

She volunteered to take on the quilt-tie project,

Along with a sweatshirt and a t-shirt tie project.

 

One day, we met in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby

For the shirt and tie drop off.

 

Almost immediately,

Heidi went to work.

She completed the sweatshirt and t-shirt quilts rather quickly,

And then she began work on the tie quilt.

She worked. And worked. And worked.

 

Then life happened and she stopped working.

The tie-quilt sat on the frame for months without being touched.

 

The quilt taunted her every time she’d look at it.

She eventually began work again.

One quilt turned into three.

The stop and start continued for months.

Until finally, a year-and-a-half later, she was done.

 

Originally designed and hand-quilted in one-inch squares,

The quilt is absolutely stunning.

 

Naturally, we decided to enter it into the State Fair.

We dropped it off on a Saturday.

Heidi visited it the next Saturday

Only to find out she hadn’t won a ribbon.

We were bummed.

 

We both visited it last Thursday.

We proudly stood in front of it and had our picture taken.

 

There were some amazing quilts at the State Fair.

Ours was a crowd favorite.

It is a family favorite, too.

And it will be cherished for many years to come,

State Fair ribbon winner or not.