Old Photos, New Quilts

... and knitting

I really have to start writing down things I want to put in the next month’s post—because I know there are snippets that run through my mind that would be fun to write but, in that moment, I’m generally busy with some project that needs my attention. For instance, we are approaching the time when people are going to be visiting and the “spare room,” aka my studio, will be called into service for someone to spend the night. I don’t begrudge that at all—however, it does mean that I’ll need to tidy it up and stow away anything I might be working on. If that’s a quilt, things get awkward because I’ve now added to my gear a jury-rigged DESIGN WALL!! (See gallery at the end.) A structure that is vastly superior to my previous method of laying out quilt blocks on the floor and then getting all acrobatic in order to move a block from here to there or arrange the rows for stitching together.

It all started with a “portable” design wall kit I bought. It has collapsable poles, not unlike the tent poles for a pop-up tent (probably what some clever quilter figured out), with a flannel fabric screen. Probably could use it to show home movies as well. But it was way too small and a bit rickety. So I bought a folding Japanese screen, almost 6 ft tall and wide. That was better, but nothing I could stick pins in, and the flannel screen was still too small.

Of course, the Japanese screen was perfect for putting up in front of my standing desk wall with its various devices that result in little flashing lights (backup disk) or red lights that are always on (the electrical breakers under the desk) and the printer that needs to be shut off when someone is staying over as it does its little “wake up” routine periodically—often in the middle of the night.

You might ask, how do I know this? Well, not too long ago, a mouse got into our bedroom, perhaps because someone had left the front door open for a bit at a time when sensible mice decide that the weather is getting a little too cold and it would be best to find some other habitation for the next few months. I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard some scratching. I thought maybe the cat wanted to come in so I went to open the door only to see a dark gray teeny creature climbing up the pair of jeans hanging on the back of the door. I shouted out to the man of the house that there was a mouse in the bedroom! It’s his job to take care of wildlife. He said, “Nonsense!” and I replied, “Well it’s gone into the pocket of your robe now…” That got him out of his comfy chair! The mouse, which he doubted existed at all, was now behind the storage unit under the window… a sturdy unit that was screwed into the wall and not easily removed in daylight, certainly not at 11:30 pm. The “humane mouse trap” was retrieved from the shed and set up. And Robbie suggested, it now being midnight, that we just go to bed and leave the bedroom door open so that the cat could go on sentry duty… when he felt like it. I said, “You can sleep here—if you can. I’m off to my studio.” That’s how I learned about the flashing lights under the desk and the noisy printer that would just rev up at odd times for no good reason. It took two nights to get the mouse… who has since been relocated to a nice spot a kilometer away near the river. But I determined that the annoying lights would need some screening before anyone slept in my studio again.

Back to the design wall. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent looking online and in local craft and hardware shops for the wherewithal to convert the backside of my Japanese screen into something that would work as a design wall without interfering with the integrity of it as a foldable, portable screen for when it wasn’t needed for designing and assembling a quilt. Of course, the obvious solution is to have a craftsman (I have one in mind) who builds bespoke cabinetry just make me a craft storage unit with bifold doors that open out and fold back on themselves and then slide back together. This magnificent construction would replace the IKEA shelving that is precariously tall and, again, jury-rigged to get me a deeper depth on the bottom half with a couple of drawers in it. It’s not perfect, but it was inexpensive and something I could assemble myself. It is the basis of my “Wall of Fabric”, but a bespoke cabinet would be my dream….

Eventually, I realized that all I need is a thin, light something that I could adhere to the back side of the screen panels and then cover with batting or flannel. My local hardware store “consultant” suggested 8’x 4’ 10-12mm cork board. They often get that in for the local schools. I’d never get it into my car though. My carpenter friend, Anthony, said he would collect it AND the screen and cut the cork to fit for me. I’m so lucky to have these people nearby to help me with my harebrained schemes. It still won’t be quite big enough for a large quilt but it will keep me going until I can get the Rolls Royce of craft cabinets built to my specifications. Happily, I won’t need the design board again for about a month. I have two quilt tops done and will be hand quilting and knitting until the beginning of March… I’ve signed up for Carol Feller’s latest Mystery Knit Along (MKAL) where I’m going to try to master Brioche knitting. Nothing to do with bread!

It’s starting to smell like Spring. Next weekend is Imbolc/Bríde’s Day, the first day of Spring in the Celtic calendar. It’s also Chandeleur for my heritage so crêpes are in the offing. And, I just realized how far I’ve come from the TITLE of this post… Old Photos? Yes, that’s where I started my day early this morning, so I’m going to put a little gallery of the treasures I found there while looking for something else entirely as I worked on the Robbie O’Connell Songbook… Some rabbit holes are worth pursuing, some are just a nice way to spend the time when the news all around is more than a soul can bear. I hope you stay warm and cozy wherever you are and that you look after yourself. Sending hugs and love.

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The first three photos are my side of the family: My great-great grandmother Natalie DesLauriers, with her two children, Alderic and Delia (a tintype); my great grandfather Augustin Eli Vigeant’s first truck with all the boys in the neighborhood holding it up; my sister Danielle with Minou, her cat. The second three are are from my father-in-law’s old photo album: Robbie’s aunt Eileen (left) and mother (right) with Diane Hamilton in the middle; Robbie’s uncle Jimmy and aunt Alice; and finally Tom Nealon who died a little over a year ago. He was a great friend, a fantastic storyteller whose party piece was The West Clare Railway.

See the paragraph above

Using my jury-rigged design board for June's NYSCA Catskills quilt