My office lost its curmudgeon today. After twenty-five years of driving more than two hours from home to work and traveling across Nebraska, Don retired. He has dedicated decades to keeping Nebraska drivers safe, improving roadways and helping local public agencies solve big problems with budgets that are never enough. From my first day at my office, Don has taken me under his wing accepting my idiosyncrasies, teaching me, and supporting my growth in our field. We are fortunate he will still be doing some contract work in the foreseeable future.
I've known for awhile that Don was thinking about retiring. At the August Lincoln Quilters Guild meeting, I saw what I knew would be the perfect quilt. Tonya Alexander of Stashlab Quilts shared a quilt to be published in the Fall 2017 Quilts and More Magazine. The alternating arrows with the orange highlights was absolutely perfect. Arrow boards and signage are important parts of traffic control devices - Don's specialty, and orange is an important color in road construction.
I'm not a scrap quilter. I have been collecting grays and low volume fabrics for awhile now, but I had almost no orange in my stash. Fortunately, about the time I was ready to get started, #grantyourquiltywishes started on Instagram. More than a dozen quilters, including one from Australia, sent me their orange scraps! I will need to make some great Halloween quilts this fall to use the remaining scraps!
I find scrap quilting frustrating. The amount of time it takes to maintain scraps in a way that is usable makes me a little impatient. It always takes me three times as long to select, pair and combine scraps than when I start with fresh fabric, too. This project would work with bigger, solid pieces or less variety, but it wouldn't be as impactful so I went with it.
To make this quilt more personal for its recipient, I also included fabric from a Type II safety vest. These are important daily wear for our clients, and, often, for us. Even better, the silver-gray stripes are made with retroreflective fabric that will reflect a flashlight or tv light just like a street sign.
A couple of my co-workers pitched in. One shared some fabrics from her stash and another made many, many gray strip sets.
As I was laying out the blocks on my design space, er ... bed, I found the larger, lap-sized quilt with all of the pieced squares to be a little overwhelming so I added some negative space. This has left me with a few blocks leftover to repurpose for a different project, but it also made for a quilt I am much happier with. I believe fully in the value of negative space whether it is in a quilt or on a page.
I was able to give Don his quilt last Friday during a potluck lunch. I was pleased that he seems to like it. It is a small token of appreciation for all that he has done for me and our clients. Enjoy your retirement, Don!
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