Helen Kelleys Joy Of Quilting Helen Kelley by Helen Kelley 9781616739737, 9780896586413, 1616739738, 0896586413 instant download after payment.

IMAGINE THIS—A BEAUTY queen stands on the stage in the glow of the footlights in her teeny-tiny bathing suit and her royal sash. The contest judge asks her, “And what would you like to do with your life?” The fantasy queen replies, “I would like to bring about world peace.”

Well, I am no beauty queen, but I can tell you how I would do this. The recipe for world peace is to bring all of the international leaders together around a quilt frame. This suggestion does not sound ridiculous to anyone who has ever sat side-by-side and hip-to-hip with creative quilters, working in harmony with one another to produce something beautiful. While sitting around that quilt frame, the world leaders could sort out the troublemakers, settle international disputes, and put a whole new face on the art of cooperation and candor and creativity. How many times have you read about something or someone gone wrong, and heard a listener comment, “Well, it couldn’t have been a quilter who did that.” From quilters you can expect integrity and generosity.

I quilt because I like to be with quilters. It’s true that I love to feel fabric and that I am probably in the running for the title of World’s Most Compulsive, Every-Day, All-Day Maker of Quilts, but it’s the people I meet who are the real reason why I do this quilt-thing. On most days, I work alone in my workroom. I listen to the radio while I squint at fabric to determine which colors blend and what colors make my quilt sparkle. I cut fabric. Recently, I expanded my cutting table area to the size of an entire 30x60-inch office table by adding a gigantic cutting mat; now I have a huge area where I can measure and cut and stack up my patchwork pieces to my heart’s content. I sew. My sewing machine is precious to me and I treat it kindly, dusting and oiling and pampering it to keep it healthy and happy. I iron.