This week, I've begun work on repairing my quilt. I made this quilt five years ago, roughly, and my dogs have done their worst to it. Now that Fall is right around the corner and the nights are much, much cooler, I will be using my quilt soon. It has been in need of repair for a year, but I dreaded the work. This is one of those projects that I wouldn't attempt to do in one day. All the hand stitching can lead to cramped joints and calloused fingertips. I really have no desire to injure myself for the sake of a craft. At the same time, it's a lovely quilt and I want it to last a long time. So, the work must be done. I began repairing it a little at a time. Fortunately, I saved all of the left over fabric from the first time that I constructed the quilt.
This quilt project really began in the 1980's, but I didn't complete it until 2008. A long time ago, while I was in the second grade, a lovely lady from my community came to my class and taught us all how to sew a square. From that moment on, I developed a bit of a fascination with quilts. I had attempted many quilts, throughout my childhood, which was really just a mess of scrap fabric, hastily sewn together and then cast aside. Then, I watched the "Anne of Green Gables" miniseries on PBS, and thus began a lifelong obsession with all things "Anne" and later, Maud.
In 2008, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I used that time to develop and nurture hobbies. I researched quilting on the internet and made my first quilt, a memory quilt, for my mum. After that experiment turned out to be quite successful, I decided to continue with my quilting hobby. It was during the time that I was assembling the memory quilt, that I fished out my old VHS tapes of the "Anne" trilogy. I would watch the movies as I passed the day away, working on the quilt. Christmas arrived and I presented my mum with her quilt, and I was presented with the "Anne" trilogy on DVD.
This is where the obsession deepened, this is where my A.O.G.G. fangirlness, grew to resemble that same fanaticism found in Whovians, Trekkies, and Star Wars nuts. Yes, A.O.G.G., is my "Star Wars" trilogy. With the DVD's, I was able to focus on scenes that I was unable to scrutinize with a VHS tape. In the movie "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story" or "Anne of Avonlea" as I grew up with, "Anne" has many scenes shot in her bedroom. The scene where she prepares for the clam bake and the scene where she has a meltdown after her "Jonah Day" are both shot in the same area of the room. Both of these scenes include her bed on which is a beautiful quilt. I was OBSESSED with the quilt while growing up. In my research, I could never find who crafted the quilt, nor could I ever find any information or images of it. So, one day, I took my DVD and I advanced to all of the scenes that showed the quilt. Then, I would zoom the screen and pause the film. This enabled me to chart out the pattern as best as I could. Then, I went out and found fabric that was similar to the color and I assembled the quilt over a period of three months. What can I say, I LOVE this quilt!
Now, I am repairing the quilt, after my dogs had accidentally ripped out some stitches and some patches have become threadbare. This time, however, as I work on the quilt, I am not watching the Anne films or the "Emily of New Moon" tv series (which I also have on DVD). Instead, I am watching seasons 1 and 2 of the tv show "Haven" on Netflix. I love this show! In some way it makes sense to watch it, even though it's set in Maine, it's filmed in Canada (I think in NS and that's close enough to PEI). So yes, in my own silly way it all makes perfect sense.
Soon, the quilt will be repaired, cleaned and ready for Fall. Then, when I finish that project, I have my heart set on making leg warmers. Until then~ Toodahloo!
