[Nfb-krafters-korner] Quilting article

[Becky Frankeberger]

I did not see a place to link to or where this article was found, sorry.

Becky and guide dog Jake 

Blindness no match for quilting passion
Thursday, 28 February 2008
by Joel Strottrup
ECM Publishers
Little did Leah Wark know when she picked out material last fall for
her blind mother to make a quilt, that the quilt would be Leah's
Christmas gift.
Jean is legally blind, only able to see shadows and shades of light.
Jean, who is a long-term diabetic, lost the sight in her left eye in
1970, from hemorrhaging within the eye. Ten years later she had the
defunct left eye replaced by an artificial one.
In 2002 the retina in her right eye had become completely detached
and two months later a doctor at Phillips Eye Institute in
Minneapolis declared Jean legally blind.
Jean then had it certified by the state.
But blindness has not taken everything from this woman, especially
not her love for sewing.
She became an able student of an instructor contracted by the state
to teach life skills to the blind.
Jean, who has sewn since fifth grade, and had crocheted at least 100
things, was interested in sewing again. Her first sewing was as a
child, making doll clothes. Her mother would cut out the patterns and
Jean would sew the doll dresses using an old treadle sewing machine.
When Jean was a teen, she made skirts and mended clothes. "Not what
you would call an expert," Jean said humbly.
But Jean sewed well enough that she made the wedding dress for her
wedding to Dave in 1967. It was off-white with rose patterns.
During the summer of 2003, when Jean was being taught life skills by
a woman named Sylvia, Jean asked if Sylvia could teach her to sew
side seams on a pair of slacks.
Jean was worried about the needle on the automatic sewing machine
piercing her finger.
Sylvia showed Jean how to guide the material beneath the sewing
machine's pressure foot to avoid getting stuck by the needle and Jean
began sewing again.
The idea of quilting
Jean remembers Sylvia then declaring that if Jean could sew that
well, she could also quilt.
"You've got to be kidding," Jean remembers responding.
Sylvia said she could bring Jean some material to try.
"I was willing to give it a try," Jean said. "By that time I was
willing to do something to keep myself busy, keep my mind active."
Sylvia brought quilting material a week later and cut it into 4-inch
squares.
Jean then made a quilt for a twin-size bed "with Sylvia's help and
the patience of Dave."
Her husband, Dave, became her quilt inspector, checking to see if all
the squares that Jean had sewn together had the correct side facing
up.
She was "not always thrilled," she admitted, whenever Dave pointed
out a square that was the wrong side up. It meant, she explained,
that she would have to tear out the seams and redo it.
On some materials it is easy to tell by feeling the material if the
correct side is up, she said. Also, once in a while, if her eye hits
the light on the material at the correct angle and the material is
shiny, she can tell which side should be up, she says.
After Jean finished that first quilt in late 2003, she decided to
make a baby quilt for a nephew's baby in case she should get invited
to a shower for the mother.
Sylvia went to the Country Treasures quilt shop in Princeton and
picked out the bright-colored material Jean wanted, along with some
material with figures.
Jean finished it sometime in 2005, but still has the quilt because
she wasn't invited to a shower.
But Jean gained satisfaction and accomplishment from making the
quilt, and thought it was fun.
The surprise quilt gift
Some intrigue was woven into Jean's third quilt project, as she
planned the quilt to be daughter Leah's Christmas gift.
What made that a bit tricky was that Jean decided Leah would have to
pick out the material.
When 2006 arrived, Jean had worked out the details in her head how to
make the quilt. Leah's quilt would be queen size and Dave would make
wooden jigs as guides for Jean to cut the squares.
Jean, looking back on the project, didn't think the making of the
quilt was so much of a challenge as was pulling off the project
without alerting Leah to what was going on.
Jean and Leah remember it being September when Leah drove Jean to a
fabric place in St. Cloud to select the material.
Jean told Leah it was going to be a green quilt, and wanted it to be
very colorful.
Jean remembers Leah "having a blast" picking out the colors that Jean
knew Leah would like for herself.
Using a cloth-cutting wheel, and Dave's jigs, Jean cut 410 5-inch
squares.
Family friend Jeanine Reckinger of Princeton laid out all the fabric
squares on tables at the senior dining center in Princeton to arrange
the colored squares.
Jeanine then stacked the squares in sequence for each row and placed
each stack inside a separate plastic bag. Each bag was labeled to
show the order they should be placed for sewing together.
During the fall of 2006, Jean began sewing the squares together,
first ironing the squares.
She worked throughout the fall and then all the way through 2007.
Jean and Dave finished the last detail of tying the quilt layers
together the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
Jean admitted that there was at least one time during the quilt block
sewing that she wondered, "What have I gotten myself into?"
Leah was shocked at first just to hear that her mother was going to
take up quilting as a blind person, but then soon realized that she
could do it.
As Leah looked back on the surprise gift that Jean was making for
her, she thought Jean had avoided showing her any of the quilting
work in progress. Leah had assumed the quilt was for Jean, even
though something seemed odd on Christmas Eve when Leah called Jean
and Dave.
Leah called that day to go over the plans for when Leah should arrive
to stay overnight on Christmas Eve. When she called, Jean and Dave
declared they would be busy with something during the day.
Leah admitted thinking something was "weird" they would be busy then,
as she didn't think they had any medical appointments.
When she called Jean and Dave a second time for more information,
Dave said that he and Jean had to spend time at the senior dining
center on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Leah wondered what that
could be once the noon meal there was over.
Maybe it was to help some other senior citizens wrap gifts, Leah
guessed.
Dave and Jean finished the last part of the quilt work at the dining
center at 5:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Jean and Dave then used garbage bag wrapping to get the quilt into
their apartment without Leah's seeing it.
On Christmas day Jean, Dave and Leah went to Frontier Steak House in
Princeton to eat at noon, and then returned to the apartment to open
gifts.
"I was very shocked," Leah said about opening the wrapping of her
gift and seeing the quilt. "I had never expected an extra quilt out
of the deal for me."
"I thought (getting) it was cool because she (Jean) used to do so
much crocheting," Leah said.
Jean says it was rewarding hearing her daughter's gratitude and
surprise. "You could hear that intake of air," Jean said, describing
Leah's reaction.