Friends old and new

  

Roxy with quick and dirty

Roxy

        For her birthday my friend  Roxie invited  us  to a piece-a palooza, stash-busting soiree. We made quilts for Medical Teams International, which sends doctors and nurses to disaster areas.  Roxie has provided them with what she calls "quick-and-dirty" quilts for years.

        Judy and Donna played their autoharps for background music, and we munched on birthday cake and fudge.  Roxie declared that we had to eat fudge while piecing these quilts, because you always need a fudge factor.

Ripping the strips

Pinning front to back

     Three women brought their fabric stashes, and Galadriel sorted the material into piles by colors.  Barb and Pat carefully measured six-inch notches in the fabric, and then Hallie, Jessie and Pilar ripped the fabric into long pieces.  We laid the strips out onto  old blankets for stuffing and old sheets for backing.  "Don't get all artistic on me," Roxie would call out.  "This is quick and dirty."

     Rose, Lynne, Galadriel, and Roxie kept the sewing machines whirring as they sewed the strips together side by side.  Sometimes we would hear Lynn or Roxie in their rich contraltos singing along with the autoharp music.   Roxie and the teens pinned the tops to the filling and backing, and the sewing machine hummed again fastening the parts of the quilts together.   At the end of the day we had three fine quilts ready to be tied.

Lynne stitching

Barb tying

      Roxie has a gift for gracious living in Milwaukie.  While we ate pizza and fudge and laid out quilts on the floor, we also had a bonnet-shaped birthday cake made from the strawberry jam from her favorite breakfast place.  We drank our tea from elaborate china cups which Roxie then sent home with us as party favors.

Tea at Roxy's

       Roxie also has a gift for friendship.  She  attracts  good, strong, interesting people and nurtures the relationships over years.  Every month we gather at her beautifully spread table for a knitters' tea.    I meet women from her college crowd,  those she worked with at Pendleton when she was a weaver of prototype designs, fellow writers, former church workers, and new yarn buddies she connects with through her blog.  The conversation is rich and funny passionate, the closest thing I know to breakfast with my old heart friends back East.