My "Many Places" Quilt... It's been a Journey.
I have this Dream of having a Homestead someday….
It’s no secret. It’s a conversation over many meals, walks with the dog, phone calls from across oceans…. Husband and I discussing, researching, exploring places we may want to buy dirt, root into the ground, build our HOME.
This is common for Military Families—- we all ask the closer we get to that last Duty Station, “well, what’s next?” Most of us have no clue. We will spend more than 2 decades serving in the Navy- enduring at least 7 major, 2 minor, moves spanning 3 continents- hoping the next, post Mil Life, will be or last for a while… It’s a thing ya’ll.
This experience has made us the people we are, the family we are. I wouldn’t change our story for anything, yet, I still have a Dream….
This month we begin looking at Orders, again… A task my Husband sees like Christmas morning, yet one I tend to almost dread. Just when a place starts to feel like a Home- we make friends, our kids have routine, the garden has started to grow, my body has adjusted to the weather, we find our rhythm, we are preparing to leave again. To another Base, another State or Country, another PLACE.
This Quilt is just that, my “Many Places.”
I stumbled across a photo of this pattern on Pinterest a couple of years ago, added it to a board, and have gone back to it over and over again… It drew me in. The squares were similar, yet each individual, no two the same.. A common theme of repetition, yet different and unique. It felt somehow that it represented in a way, this timeline of our life-the chapters, the houses, the towns, the cities, the again “Many Places” I have made a Home.
When an Idea floods in, one that is just demanding my attention, I can’t seem to turn my back on it…. I knew exactly how I wanted to create this piece, using fabric from my 4 baskets kept on the sewing room shelf, all materials that have moved with me over the years… A bit of courderoy, some linen in various colors or stripe pattern, organic cotton and more linens plant dyed with logwood, marigold, avocado pits and iron, nettle, and acorns from my Old Oak tree in the front yard of our last house. Sustainability in using what I have, and leaving hardly any to waste. A Story of Memories stitched into one Quilt top.
The batting is an organic cotton, and I kept the backing neutral. A soft, sky blue/grey and beige linen stripe, with a strip of organic cotton print… Flying Birds.
I feel just that, like we are Birds, always looking for that next nest, forever in flight.
Nature was all around us this beautiful morning as my daughters took photos… Tracks and lady bugs, wild flowers and horses. Just magic.
This Quilt represents so much personally to me, our Journey, the Journey of our Military Families. It may be simple squares on a Blanket, but each hand done Sashiko stitch was accompanied with moments of reflection, and thoughts of what is to come for us.
The choices we make are for so many reasons- living these chapters, place to place, home to home, Base to Base, choosing to continue to serve, for that someday—- The address that doesn’t change, that land I grow an apple tree, the garden for morning walks with the dogs and beautiful meals from home grown food, the coop I build for the chickens, the doorframe I carve notches for my grandchildrens’ height milestones, the sign over the door reading “Sparrow Folk”, and non the less, a Quilt on every cozy chair and bed.
We all have our dreams for someday… That is mine.
But for now, we are still livin’ Many Places.
This Throw is available in my Etsy Shop… I can’t keep all of them, and let’s face it, we need Sports tuition for the girls ;) You can find it Here >>>
Thank you for sticking around, and reading this post… Much Love- xoxo