Ohio Star

birthday, using an Ohio star at its center. I hadn’t been quilting very long, and this was the first one that I machine quilted rather than simply tying.

My father thought it was beautiful. We had a long talk about how quilts are art, and he encouraged me to explore that. That conversation made me look at what I was doing in a different light. Until then, I had given away all of the quilts I made as gifts. I had never considered making a business out of them, but it turns out my father thought I was a star, too. I wish he had lived long enough to see where his words would take me.

I loved all of the fabrics I used in that quilt, but especially that deep blue batik. It is one of my favorite fabrics ever. Since I had a couple of yards of it, it has found its way into other quilts and has been used in at least one doll’s outfit over the last ten years.

Today I was selecting fabrics for more doll clothes and saw all that is left of that original yardage. It’s a small piece, maybe 18 x 20, that is big enough for a doll’s shirt, maybe a dress if I’m very careful. There would only be scraps left after that. Ordinarily, my attitude about using the last of a fabric is, “Great! Now I have room for something new!” but I don’t want to use that remnant for doll clothes. Not the very last bit. Not when I still associate it with my dad.

Kinda silly, right? Especially after using it all over the place all this time?

Still…maybe some project will come along that would not be complete without that material, something that feels like a worthy use. Maybe I’m attaching too much significance to a little piece of cloth. Or maybe I’ll just keep it in the blue fabric drawer, where it can sneak up on me sometimes and whisper that I’m a star.