Reflecting Today...Flim Strip Quilt

I woke up thinking about my dad. He was an artist. A great one too! I always had beautiful pictures on my walls in my bedroom, of anything I would ask him to draw for me, done in pastels. I loved them. Some of my most prized earthly possessions are his paintings. But he was also a photographer. He was a photographer for the military in the 60's. He bought me my first SLR camera (before digital) for my high school photography class, but honestly, I learned more from him than my class. I was thinking about how we always had film in our refrigerator. I knew I'd love Ashley's blog as soon as I saw the title. I think of my dad every time I read it. It also reminded me of him recently when I was watching Bridges of Madison County and Clint Eastwood's character puts his film in Meryl Streep's character's refrigerator. In the day of digital not too many people have film in the fridge or a dark room (we had one of those too) and I think that's why I so appreciate these little things that have reminded me of this part of my dad. Quilting is something that also reminds me of him. I started quilting just before he got sick. He moved in with us and we took care of him. My husband took just as good care of him as I did, for which I am truly grateful and blessed. My husband often refers to my dad as one of his best friends, and he was. I remember hand quilting my second quilt in the wee hours of the morning, sitting with my dad, during his last precious days on this earth. It reminds me of him. He was encouraging and when I first began learning to quilt, before he was very ill, he would tell me what a wonderful sewist my great grandmother was. It gave me sense of why I felt so in my element sewing, unlike drawing or painting or crocheting or jewelry making, I enjoy all of those things, but sewing is mine.

I decided to start a film strip quilt, my own way, in memory of my dad. I'm going to use the rest of my Arcadia and Kona solids in Coal, Artichoke and Stone. I think he would have loved it! Prismacolors also remind me of him. I have his old ones put up. I remember using those as a child, breaking them and him not getting upset at all. Never did! My children used them also. Some are no more than an inch long. Yup, I remember him standing with his pencil sharpener and getting all of his pencils sharp. That sound, I love. We use that same sharpener everyday for school. I miss him and rest in the fact that we will meet again. Thank Jesus for that. My dad never had a bad word or a mean temper. I wish I were more like that. I could go on and on....thanks for listening.

♥

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