April: Easter

The second square for my 2020 quilt is an Easter Basket representing April. Easter was the first big holiday that arrived just a few weeks into the shut down, and my family was fortunate in that my parents, my brother, and I could all gather together. It also became an early occasion for deliveries of easter cupcakes to friends and neighbors. For Easter I made meringue "nest" topped cupcakes with chocolate candy eggs. The pic below of my mom and I masked up for cupcake delivery captures what would become a pandemic ritual of delivering baked goods to doors and enjoying the brief socially distanced visits waving at friends from the sidewalk as they picked up the treats. 

Making this quilt square was much less about Easter of 2020, however, and much more about happy memories of the past. This square connects with my family in two ways. Most directly, the "Easter Basket" pattern, is a traditional one which I copied from the one made by my great grandmother Rose, and her mother Susanne. I've told the story of that quilt already in my first post to this blog. For my square I carefully studied the way my great grandmother and great-great grandmother had put their quilt squares together and did the same pattern slightly enlarged so that it would be the same size as the other squares of my quilt. 

The process of getting the proportions correct to make the triangle pieces larger so that they would fit into the 16''X16" size for my quilt square proved a test for my geometry skills, and I was definitely glad to have the handy quilting triangle tool I had picked up at Joanne's to help me get the proportions right in my cutting. 

I also appreciated a tip I had picked up in one of my online quilting forums, to put one or two 2 pound hand weights on top of the plastic quilting templates quilters use frequently to make uniform squares or triangles. The weights are fantastic for keeping the plastic templates from slipping around. 

Not only was a family heirloom the inspiration for my Easter Basket square, but the process of making it brought back many happy memories from sewing with my dad's mom, my grandmother, Frances Aydelotte. Precision always matters in quilting, and I had to try to keep my squares fairly even for my first quilt square, the picnic square. I also had to calculate the extra quarter inch for each square for the seams that fit them together. However, with a square this is a relatively straightforward process. Fitting together all the corners of the triangles for the Easter Basket pattern proved much more complex. It became much more important that all the pieces were as uniform as possible and that all the quarter inch seams were as accurate as possible so that all the pieces would fit together well. It was a process of trial and error: cutting out my pieces, stitching them together, and sometimes getting out my friend, the seam ripper, when I had joined things together wrong. While making this square I could hear my grandmother's voice in my head clearly, reminding me, calmly but firmly, to "measure twice, cut once"! 

Making the Easter Basket square reminded me of my grandmother, Frances, teaching me to sew, and it also reminded me of past easters with her. The picture below is of her on an Easter shortly after the end of WWII, long before either my father or I were born. She and my grandfather, Charles Aydelotte, met when, just after the war, around 1946, his navy ship docked in Seattle. The story goes that he and his buddy were leaving the ship when my grandfather's friend saw an attractive typist in an office window and asked her out on a date. My grandmother brought a friend of hers along to be my grandfather's date, but part way through the evening it became apparent that my grandparents were the ones really hitting it off, so they switched dates and my grandparents were soon engaged. 

My grandmother's Easter "pic" sent to my grandfather shortly after WWII. 

This photo was apparently one she sent my grandfather after they were engaged, but when he was back down in California for a period before they were married. She's drawn in  some bling on her left hand and written "that's my ring sparkling!" along with other remarks like "Easter hat- the one you laughed at!", "nylons yet!", and "Easter morning and right after church too! See my halo!"  I love that on the back she says she's sending him a "pic". I had no idea that they were using that term back in the 40's! My grandparents were married for over 40 years, and my dad was the youngest of their 3 children. 

My grandparents, Frances and Charles, in their youth.

The Easter pic below is of my grandparents with me, my brother, and my dad from when I was about 6 in the late 80's. I have very happy memories of hunting eggs at their house, and also of the wonderful family meals she made for our holiday celebrations.  

Easter with Grandma and Grandpa 1988.

Grandma likely made the dress in this picture, and definitely made the one in the picture below, when I was 6, which was doing double duty as an easter dress, after having been my flower girl dress at my Aunt Jan's wedding in Hawaii. 

Easter 1987.

With my Auntie Jan on her wedding day, April 11, 1987.

Other samples of my grandma Frances' wonderful talents as a seamstress included my treasured Snow White costume, presented for my birthday, or the matching granddaughter and doll dresses below. 

The snow white dress Grandma sewed for my 6th birthday.

Matching dresses for me and my doll at age 4.

These beautiful handmade outfits were gifts of love, stitched literally and figuratively into our family holiday memories. I couldn't find any pictures of Grandma sewing with me, but this picture of her teaching me how to decorate a cake captures how she looked as she explained things. 

Learning to decorate a cake with Grandma.

She was an excellent teacher, always breaking down each task in to its manageable parts, and demonstrating her own artistry in a way that my child self could follow. She taught me all kinds of sewing. We did cross stitch and needlepoint together by hand and she showed me how to practice making precise colorful, stitches as well as the importance of selecting the right materials, from the best threads, to the swiftest needles.  I have a clear memory of her complaining that the sound of an old needle I had hurt her ears because of the way it sounded going through the fabric and, to this day, I listen to my needle when I sew by hand to see if it sounds right as it goes through.  She showed me how to thread her sewing machine, and how to troubleshoot the endlessly troublesome bobbin. We started by making pillows with our embroidery projects mounted on them, then clothes for my dolls, then real clothes for me. Selecting the right fabric was important. The pinning and planning, and envisioning how the fabric would become a finished project was important. After all this planning, the first cut into the fabric felt almost dangerous and thrilling. Grandma's scissors moved confidently through the fabric, sometimes merely gliding through to make a straight, smooth cut. I remember being awed by the confidence of knowledge and experience that movement conveyed. My own cuts were sometimes less than perfect and had to be redone. Or my seams went wrong and had to be ripped out. But grandma was good at having the right seam ripper tool ready and knew that the ability to correct mistakes was an important part of the skill set of a creator too. 

Using a seam ripper to take out mistakes, just as grandma taught me.

Looking back now, I realize that that is what we were together: two creators. We were creating samplers, and pillows, and skirts. We were creating memories together. We were also creating our piece of a larger tradition of girls and women across history creating things that are beautiful to look at, and things that are practical to use. I used all the skills of planning, making, and correcting she had taught me as a child to make my easter basket quilt square. It is a piece of sewing I've created, but it's also a symbol of many happy family holiday memories, and an homage to my patient and skilled grandmother, who passed the secrets of creation down to me.