Testing 1, 2, 3 and a quarter inch

As I described in my last post, I've admitted my addiction to quilting and how a fabric store is a very dangerous place for me. I may have admitted it, but I'm not going to treatment. 

The Fire Escape quilt that got me the 

purple ribbon.

Monday night, I had an opportunity to be a part of a quilt pattern testing at the Calico Hutch Quilt Shop in Hayward, Minnesota. Even cooler for me was the opportunity to meet one of my favorite quilt designers, Terry Atkinson. Terry designed the quilt that I entered last August to the Freeborn County Fair and for which I got the Championship ribbon. Her pattern directions are so well written, may be in part because she uses test groups before sending the pattern to the printer. 

Terry's Shadow Song pattern

Every six months, there is a "Quilt Market" where retailers go and see the new fabrics and patterns. The spring market is next month in Salt Lake City and Terry is introducing quite a few new patterns. Including the one we tested last night. 

The pattern is called Shadow Song and our job was to follow the directions and make at least one of each of the blocks. I'm not great with keeping everything perfectly square, so I sometimes end up with misshaped squares. I got thru the first block and wanted to sort of hide it because it looked so strange and I was sure I had done it wrong.  Then another woman talked about not getting everything to line up. and then another. While I was concerned with understanding the pattern, someone else figured out that Terry had one cutting error at the very beginning that was causing the problem.  The direction said to cut the square to 3-1/4 inch, but the correct cut was 3-1/2 inches. Just a 1/4" makes a big difference. 

So Terry got her pattern tested and a crucial error was caught before it was sent to the printer the next morning. And I got to meet a quilting rock start. At least in my book. 

I love the Calico Hutch's back room with super high ceiling & amazing quilts covering all the walls

Talk about a place that distracts me!

A new design from Terry - A cute pillow with zippers for the design

Everyone is into making bags now. This is called "Stack & Stow"

Here's another newbie from Terry - Texas Two Step.

Carolyn & her staff made us hot fudge sundaes!

This is one of the blocks and the one with the cutting issue.

She almost got one whole row done.

Quilting Addiction

In February 1987, the Albert Lea Community Theater (also known as "ACT" cuz I guess AlbertLea is one word?) presented a musical called Quilters and I was the youngest member of the cast.

 It is a story of a pioneer woman and her six daughter which blends a series of interrelated scenes into a mosaic that demonstrates the challenges and rewards of frontier life. Each story centered on a various quilt block and depicted the life of a frontier woman: childhood, marriage, childbirth, spinsterhood, twisters, fire, illness and death (I had to die in one scene), but also the inspirational vision of simple human dignity and a woman's resolve in the face of adversity. The play ends with the various patches assembled into one glorious, brilliantly colorful quilt that qualified as the largest quilt I ever saw.  (The quilt was made by the Minnesota Quilters Guild for the Chanhassen Dinner Theater's production of Quilters.)

I fell in love with quilting during that play. I was unemployed at the time, so I spent hours at my sewing machine teaching myself how to do it. I will admit - I was horrible at it. I made my first real quilt (Log Cabin pattern) as a gift for a friend's wedding. I went a bit overboard and made it far too big. I pieced it and then tied it because I had no clue how to do actual quilting. 

Eventually, I got better and started making quilts for my nieces and nephews. That continued until about 1996 when I got involved with skating and focused all my energy and free time on that. Unfortunately, only five of the nine got quilts, so there are four nieces and nephews still waiting.

Then about three years ago, I started quilting again and my passion for this hobby has consumed me (along with much of my budget).

• When the owners of the quilt shops know you by name, that might mean you're a "good customer." 
• I always have several projects going at one time because I'm powerless over the allure of quality fabric and cool looking patterns. 
• When I started packing my condo for moving last fall, I think I had more tubs of fabric than I did of my clothing. 
• I can recognize a quilt pattern, tell you the name of the pattern and if I have one in process. 

 Last weekend, I went on my first quilters' retreat sponsored by the Calico Hutch (Hayward, MN)  Just me and about 95 other addicts at the Austin (MN) Conference Center. Everyone had their own table to lay out their paraphernalia like rotary cutters, templates and high-tech sewing machines.There was also one group who had their laptops set up with the Decorah Eagles on 24/7.

The staff of the Calico Hutch was wonderful to everyone and I'm already signed up for retreats in February and April of 2012.

This Carolyn Matson, owner of Calico Hutch, demonstrating how you can confuse a ruler with a handle with your phone.

Here's Katie Zenk, the blog master of Calico Hutch's blog and a wildly creative young woman. Plus she's a financial whiz.

 

 

 

 

And the photo above? That's the quilt I want to make next. It contains thousands of pieces. Thousands and thousands pieces. Doesn't that sound like fun??

Recovery Is Not For Wimps

I saw the most amazing news story last night and had to share it with you. Fox 9 News told the very moving story of young woman's journey through recovery from alcoholism.

Heather King is a blogger, a mom and a recovering alcoholic who is brave enough to share her journey with others.  

The story was not just about Heather, but about the challenges addicted women face. I was proud that Trish Van Pilsum, the Fox 9 journalist, tapped into the resources of Hazelden's Women's Recovery Center and Hazelden's Butler Center for Research.  I learned so much about women and addiction during my time working for Hazelden. 

One of the most eye-opening experiences I had while at Hazelden was through their Professionals in Residence program.  During my first month on the job, I spent a week learning about addiction and recovery from Hazelden researchers and addiction professionals. It wasn't just lecture; I spent time on the units talking with individuals going though treatment. I was privileged to be included in their small group discussions where often times the true essence of addiction is revealed and break-throughs happen. 

I was struck by the difference between the discussions that happened in the men's groups and the women's groups. It was an Ah Ha! moment for me. 

There were core points talked about in both groups - what happens when I leave Hazelden? How will I handle life when I have to face what I left behind? Their answers were different - men talked about jobs and the financial repercussions of their addiction, while the women were concerned about their relationships with their families and feeling ashamed of themselves.

Before you accuse me of stereotyping, remember that these were small group discussions and the topics were common denominators, not what each person had to deal with individually.  Men in recovery worry about relationships and women in recovery worry about jobs, too. 

Unfortunately, addicted women have more barriers to getting help, some perceived and some real.  If you are a single mom, you wonder who will take care of your children while you're in treatment? Could you lose custody of your children?  What will people think of me? (I've only heard of one center that is set up for women to bring their children with them to treatment.) So often, women put their care giving duties before their own personal health.

When Hazelden opened their doors some 60+ years ago, they only treated men. After all, women weren't alcoholics. (It would be another seven years before Hazelden would open a facility for women.) Thank goodness, we've moved beyond that belief.

Thank goodness we have women like Heather willing to take us along on their journey. 

*******

IMHO: There is a difference between reporters and journalists. I don't believe the terms are interchangeable - a reporter stands in front of a camera and reads the facts while a journalist tells a story with words and images that engage you and connects with your emotions.  I saw proof of that last night in this story. Fox 9's Trish Van Pilsum is a journalist.  Kudos!

Addiction

Note: this post based on my own experiences and, as with all my posts, are my personal opinions and may not reflect the opinion of my employer.

Before I worked for Hazelden, my knowledge of addiction was limited to what I'd learned from media and common observation. The last three and half years has brought my level of understanding to a different level. Not just from learning the talking points, but from meeting individuals who are survivors and for whom each day is a struggle and a miracle rolled into one.

My naivety was evident to everyone when one of my co-workers shared that she was a recovering meth addict.

"A meth addict? But you look so normal!"

I guess I had this vision in my head that all meth addicts must be stick thin with paper-like skin and pock marks from where they picked at themselves. She was healthy and happy and had a great complexion. Every once in awhile, I'll still be surprised by admissions of past drug or alcohol addiction by someone. It's a great reminder for me that addiction is an equal opportunity disease.

I've learned that the stigma attached to addiction is because alcoholism and drug use has been viewed by many as a moral or character flaw. And although addiction/alcoholism was recognized as a brain and physical disorder by the medical profession years ago, that belief is still held by many. Sometimes it may be easier to judge someone's character than to understand a very complex disease.

Maybe because sometimes it is easier to be angry at a living, breathing person than an abstract concept of the disease. It may be hard to separate the pain that the disease is causing you when the pain is delivered by someone who is supposed to love you.

There have been many times when I've talked about addiction as a disease that individuals have told me that I'm wrong and I don't understand the way it really is. Many of the comments came from people who have lived with an addict/alcoholic and perhaps have emotional scars from the experience. I can't blame them for feeling that way and I'm not sure anything I share with them (either scientific fact or stories of redemption), would be heard.

It's not about forgiveness, it's about understanding.