Part 2 - Read January 8 First

Confessions of a Quiltaholic

After only two weeks in the apartment, my husband moved back home. He said he missed my cooking, which is really a surprise because I haven’t cooked in ages…except for the time I toasted the bread before making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Is that considered ‘home cooking’?

He wanted us to go to a marriage counselor, but all I could think about was how much fabric I could buy with all that money. Of course, I didn’t tell him that! I asked him if there wasn’t something else I could do. Two days later he handed me a piece of paper with the date and time of a Quilter’s Anonymous meeting. Can you believe it? After the fiasco at the Fabric Hoarders Anonymous meeting he forced me to attend last month. Go figure.

He left me with no choice so I had to agree to attend. Thankfully it was in the next town. But still, I was afraid I would see someone from the FHA meeting. You all know that fabric "collecting" and quilting go hand-in-hand.

When I walked into the meeting room, I kept my coat and sunglasses on. I wanted to make sure no one recognized me. I looked around, but with the sunglasses on, it was kind of hard to see faces. I found a place to sit. They had the heat on in the building, and it sure was hot. I didn’t want to "blow my cover," so I kept my coat on.

Just like at the other meeting, people were standing up talking about their addiction. I don’t understand it. If it is something you truly enjoy, why is it called an addiction? But if this is what it’s going to take to save my marriage…a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.

As the testimonials made their way around the room, I felt eyes upon me. I stood and said, "My name is Sher…" I cleared my throat. "My name is Cherie McRae, and I am a quiltaholic." Little beads of perspiration were starting to form on my forehead and my upper lip.

The woman sitting beside me said, "Honey, don’t be so nervous. We’ve all been there."

I nodded at her and thought, ‘Another do-gooder.’ But I continued. "It started out innocently enough with potholders and throw pillows."

I heard several people say, "Me too."

"Then I made a baby quilt for my sister’s baby. Of course, after that I had to make one for my brother’s baby." I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my hand.

Several women were nodding.

I heard one of the women beside me say, "She must be going through the change."

"I joined several swaps, and I had all those blocks so I made a quilt for my bed. And two quilts for my sons. And a quilt for my daughter. And a quilt for my mother. And…and that was just from the swaps." Sweat was pouring off my face. A woman behind me handed me a tissue…I needed a bath towel.

"I even cut up fabric in my stash."

I heard a gasp from in front of me.

"Yes, it was hard to do, but I used fabric in my stash and made another quilt for my bed. Actually, I now have six quilts for my bed. My sons have five quilts each. My daughter only has three so I really need to make her…"

The woman at the head table started shaking her head ‘no.’ I peered sideways around the edge of my sunglasses and almost fainted. She was the same woman who was at the head table at the FHA meeting.

"Well, maybe my sons can give her one of theirs."

I heard someone say, "Her poor daughter is getting hand-me-down quilts."

I could feel the perspiration rolling down between my shoulder blades. I wiped my forehead and blotted by upper lip with the already sopping wet tissue.

"I’ve made bed quilts, wall quilts, and lap quilts. I’ve made throw quilts and dog quilts. I’ve even made quilted window covers. The good thing about all this quilting is that the walls and windows have so many quilts on them that our electricity bill has dropped tremendously. It doesn’t take as much energy to heat and cool the house as it did before. It’s just sort of dark in the house because the windows are covered with those quilted window shades." I started fanning myself with my hand. A woman behind me pulled one of those cardboard funeral parlor fans out of her purse and handed to me. I thought I saw a quilt block in her purse. She must be a closet quilter.

"I’ve made quilted clothes and quilted purses and totes. My daughter didn’t mind too much, but my oldest son said the kids at school made fun of his quilted gym shorts. My husband wasn’t too pleased with his quilted undershorts."

Several people gasped.

"Could someone turn the heat down please?" I asked politely.

Someone went over to the thermostat and checked it.

"I went to a thrift shop and found blue jeans for a dollar a pair. I bought thirty pairs the first time and cut them up to make a rag quilt. Later, I bought twenty pairs and cut them up to add to the first quilt. Then, I went back and bought thirty-five more pairs and cut them up. I added them to the same quilt. My husband wasn’t the least bit pleased about his new boat cover."

"Ingrate," was uttered from the front row.

A woman handed me a roll of paper towels that she snitched from the restroom. I sopped my face and my neck.

"I started thinking about all this quilting and how the quilts on the walls and windows helped with the insulation and lowered our electric bills, so I started making a roof quilt."

Several jaws fell open with wonder. I could tell that they wished they’d thought about that!

"I didn’t want to do anything elaborate for a roof quilt. I thought a simple Grandmother’s Flower Garden would do." I started swaying. "Would someone please turn the heat off?" I begged.

The person who checked it earlier said, "The air conditioner is on. You need to take your coat off."

I clutched my coat around me and shook my head. "I just kept on making quilts and quilted clothes. I made placemats and tablerunners. My husband just doesn’t appreciate my hobby at all. Do I ever say a word to him about his fishing? Noooo. Why can’t he just go fishing and leave me and my quilting alone? Besides, I made some quilted reel holders that slip over his rod and keep his expensive reels from getting scratched. He said one of his fishing buddies wanted to know where he got them."

The women behind me whispered, "I wonder if she would share the pattern for the reel covers?"

I had sweated so much that my shoes were full and they were starting to squish.

"I personally liked his boat cover so much that I made a car cover for my car and a cover for his pickup too. The kids each have a car cover. My daughter’s is Sunbonnet Sue. The boys have Fishing Freddie and Overall Sam. My car cover is the only one that gets used."

I started swaying. It was just so hot and nobody would turn the air conditioner down to a decent temperature. All of a sudden I started going down. Somebody shouted "Call an ambulance." Another shouted, "Call her husband."

I tried to holler, "NO!" But about that time everything just closed in on me.

When I regained consciousness, a bunch of mad people were standing over me. The EMT’s were just standing there staring down at me.

That woman at the front table was standing right beside me with her arms crossed over her chest. She was tapping her right foot on the floor right beside my face. And the things she was saying weren’t at all nice. She accused me of sabotaging her FHA meeting last month, and she said that I showed up at this QA meeting just to sabotage it.

I was a little cool so I reached to pull my coat up around me. It was gone. I sat up and looked around me. My clothes were in a pile…my coat…my quilted cardigan…my quilted vest…my quilted skirt…I looked down and thank heavens I still had on my quilted bra and quilted panties. For a minute there…

Then I saw my husband. He didn’t look very happy. I asked him what did he think he was looking at. Everybody in that room knew he was wearing quilted underwear!

He’s back in the apartment.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is a coincidence.
This story is copyrighted ©
No part of this shall be printed or reproduced without the written permission of Sherry Ray.

I Like to Write Too

Confessions of a Fabricaholic

I stood in the meeting room full of women. Oh, wait a minute; I remember a few men, too. Several women stood up and told the story of their addiction. Suddenly I felt eyes turned toward me. Slowly I rose to my feet.

"My name is Sherry Ray, and I am a fabricaholic." I started shaking.

The woman beside me said, "That’s alright, Sugar. You’re doing just fine. We’ve all been there." She patted my arm.

I pulled myself together. "I know that I am supposed to stand here and take full responsibility for my…for my, er, for my addiction." My hands started to shake. I reached in my pocket and felt the fat quarter I’d stashed there before the meeting and caressed it. Feeling the vibrations from the closely-woven, 100% cotton calico fabric made by Cranston Print Works Company in the U.S.A., I quickly calmed. "I confess that I have spent hard-earned money towards my addiction."

Those surrounding me went, "Tsk-tsk."

The kind lady beside me said, "Amen, sister."

I had the white FQ dotted with dainty pink rosebuds clenched tightly in my hand – inside my pocket of course. "My children have eaten cereal five days in a row. For supper."

I heard crying behind me.

"My husband has gone to a cold lonely bed several nights in a row."

A moan erupted from one of the men.

"I confess that not all of the grocery bags I brought in the house really had groceries in them."

"Oh-no" came from across the room.

"I have hidden fabric not only in boxes under my bed, but between the mattress and box springs in my bedroom." I ducked my head. "And in my children’s rooms."

A gasp from the right side of the room escaped from the lips of one of the women.

"The trunk of my car is full of fabric. I don’t even have a spare tire any more. I admit that I sold it to buy more fabric and stashed it in the spare tire well under the mat in the trunk." My hand smoothed the FQ in my pocket. I wished I’d brought the pink and green coordinating print with me.

A woman in the front row on the left jumped up and ran from the room.

"I have yards and yards of fabric hidden behind the linens in the linen closet."

I noticed one woman taking notes.

"Last month I made three long skirts. I don’t intend to wear them. I modeled them for my husband then hung them in the closet until I’m ready to cut them up for quilts. Then I can brag about how I’m recycling fabric."

Two women were now taking notes.

"I have fabric hanging under the quilts that are hanging on quilt racks."

The woman who ran out after I mentioned stashing fabric in my spare tire well came back in dusting her hands off. She had a black mark smeared on her forehead.

"I climbed up in the attic a couple of months ago and found the ice chests my husband stored up there for the winter. They are full of fabric now. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it when he starts back fishing in the spring." The FQ in my pocket was starting to hum beneath my fingertips.

Several people were rapidly scribbling by now.

"My husband built cabinets in the storage building for vegetables I can out of our garden. I don’t can."

The woman in charge started banging on the table and asked me to sit down. Several people shushed her.

"I don’t even freeze the vegetables. After my husband goes to work, I take them to the farmer’s market in town and sell them. I use the money to buy more fabric. Besides, there’s no room in the freezer. It’s full of fabric."

Half the people in the room were writing like the world was coming to an end. The rest of them were begging for a pen or a pencil and some paper.

"I bought some of those space bags that you put stuff in and hook up to your vacuum cleaner and it sucks all the air out. You’d be amazed at how much material you can hide under the couch cushions when you do that."

The woman in charge of the meeting couldn’t find a pen. She pulled her lipstick out of her purse and started taking notes.

"I smooth out lengths of fabric and hang it on hangers and then hang my jeans and slacks over them. You can’t see the fabric. I even gained weight just so the jeans would be bigger and cover more of the fabric."

Everyone in the place was writing and…a woman wearing a pink blouse was actually drooling.

"I bought one of those blankets you wrap around your hot water heater to keep the water hot enough so that it wouldn’t use as much electricity. But first, I wrapped the heater with fabric."

My hand grasped the FQ. I needed to see it. I forgot and pulled it out of my pocket. Remember that real nice lady sitting beside me? She tried to take it away. I hung on for dear life, but one of those nosy old women behind me got hold of a corner. But that woman and me, well we got it away from her pronto. Somebody tripped me, and I fell flat of my back on the floor. That hussy was on top of me. We looked like we were sitting on a seesaw with the FQ going back and forth and back and forth. I felt it start to tear.

"No!" I shouted as I saw it rip in half. When it finally split all the way, I pulled back so hard that I hit myself in the eye. I clenched my fist around my fat eighth and held it close to my body the way I’ve seen football players do when they get the ball and start running for the goal line. I headed for the door. Those men that were at the meeting…were they ever fast, but I beat them. I felt one of them grab at my blouse but I rolled and pulled loose. I saw one of the football players on TV do that too.

I ran to my car, got in, and locked the doors. It was nearly a riot. Somebody must have called 911, because I heard sirens. When everybody turned to look at the red and blue lights coming into the parking lot, I was able to make my getaway.

My husband was so upset when I got home. He told me that he’d gotten a phone call about the near riot at the meeting place. He gave me an ultimatum. I either had to get rid of the fabric or he was going to leave.

And that’s how I got kicked out of FHA (Fabric Hoarders Anonymous), got a black eye, and my husband has an apartment…he forgot about his ice chests in the attic.

This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to any person living or dead is purely a coincidence. This story is copyrighted ©
No part of this shall be printed or reproduced without the written permission of Sherry Ray.

The Last Day

...of 2007. We survived Christmas. I thought that there might be some problems, but I woke determined to have a good day. I don't know about everyone else, but it worked for me!

When we moved back "home" in 2004, I decided I did not want a China cabinet or a sideboard. We were fortunate that the kitchen had a pantry and a broom closet. I asked Sam to add shelving to the closet so that I could store my "fancy eating plates" and assorted glassware and serving pieces.




On the wall where the China cabinet/sideboard should have gone, I hung a compression quilt hanger. I have rotating art. No quilt stays up over six months and many change more often than that depending on the season. I don't have a specific Christmas quilt so I hung this one.





It is a stamped cross-stitch that took me two years to stitch while watching NASCAR races on television. That was okay though because it took two years to find the red toile I wanted to use for the backing. I kept finding small yardage amounts...not near enough for a backing. Just as I was finishing the cross-stitching, I stumbled across a brand new bolt of red and white toile. I completed this quilt in 2004.

More quilts

How about some more quilts?

The heart appliqued quilt was fun to make, but not under the circumstances. My first husband's mother had a stroke during surgery. A sister-in-law and a niece helped me with this while we spent hours in the waiting room. I showed them how to turn under the 1/4" and baste around the hearts. Busy work. The hearts are hand appliqued and to the best of my memory, the blocks are machine stitched together. All quilting is by hand. This quilt was made in 1987.



The double wedding ring was the first DWR I've ever made...so far it's been the last. It is machine pieced and hand quilted.



Both of these quilts were sold to a customer as gifts for his wife.

I am going to be published!

I am so excited! I had a short story chosen to be published in an upcoming anthology by a local writers group. I'll let you know when/where/what. If you buy a copy of the book, I'll autograph it for you!

The Day After

We survived Thanksgiving!




The first quilt I made for my son is this bowtie quilt. I remember curling up under a similar quilt with my grandmother so many years ago.


I drafted the pattern myself (in those days...mid 1980s...we did not have access to the wealth of patterns and information we can now find on the internet).

He requested a quilt with horses. I found an old pattern for the cowboy on the bronc. I drew the cowboy boot applique. My artistic abilities are slim so I was extremely proud that they looked like boots!

Finished a pair of socks

Hello, All! Hope you are all thinking about your Thanksgiving menu.

I finished another pair of socks a few days ago! This is the first pair that is made with thin enough yarn to wear with shoes.

I am having fun with these. So far I have used four DPNs. I am going to try two different things when I start my next pair. I am going to use circular needles, and I am going to start at the toe and knit up. I have been afraid of running out of yarn if I make the top of the socks too long. I had enough yarn left over to have had the socks about a half-inch longer. Oh, well. Next pair.

Houston International Quilt Show

What a fun, but tiring time. My husband, Sam, and I drove to south Texas and visited relatives. But, I had an ulterior motive...my sisters-in-law, a niece, and I went to the quilt show on Friday. Acres and acres of quilts and vendors selling anything and everything related to (and some not) quilting.


I'll never be good enough to have anything entered in one of the large quilt shows, but I do pretty good around my home town. This is one of the first quilts I ever entered in a quilt show of any size (Country Patches Quilt Show in Longview Texas in 1988). I was so surprised when I saw a third place ribbon pinned to it.

It is machine appliqued but hand quilted and was entered in the "Machine" category.

This was my first scalloped border. Hmmm...it may be my only scalloped border. I had fun with the butterfly motif in the scallops.

New Addiction

I have to admit that quilting is my first addiction. I have a closet full of fabric, patterns, and books related to that art form. This summer I started knitting. A high school classmate (and Spanish teacher at our 'old' high school) is teaching me. After the prerequisite washcloths made out of cotton yarn, I graduated to scarves.

So far I have purchased all my yarn on clearance. And, it's a good thing. The black/gray/white scarf to the left cost $15...had it purchased the fabric full price, it would have been over $40!

The black yarn is a chenille. You can see the knobbies on the gray/white variegated yarn. I knitted them together. I found it rather tough, but was determined to knit this.

I am really pleased with the end result. This will look great with my black wool Sunday "go to meeting" coat.

The white fuzzy yarn on the right was

purchased the same time as the yarns in the black/gray/white scarf. On another trip to the store, I found the raspberry yarn in the bargain bin.

I love the way these two yarns knitted. Look at the fringe. It looks like feathers.

Unfortunately it leaves white fuzzies wherever it touches. This won't be worn with the black wool coat!

The first day

Welcome to my blog. I started quilting years ago and thought it was so boring. Eventually the real bug did bite and I've been busy ever since.

FOUR-LEAF CLOVER
This is the first quilt I ever finished. I suppose you could call it an original. I folded a piece of paper in fourths and cut out a four-leaf clover. I helped quilt it with a group of church ladies. The quilt is hand-appliqued and hand quilted.

OZARK COBBLESTONES
The scrappy pieced quilt on the right is the first quilt I started. My sister-in-law's grandmother sent a pattern to us from Mena, Arkansas. I was in my early 20s and decided that this definitely was NOT my thing. After making the 4-leaf clover quilt, I dug this one out of the nether regions of my closet and finished it. My sister-in-law never started hers.



I quilted this quilt all by myself...a one-needle quilt. I tied a pencil to a string and stuck a pin through a knot on the other end of the string and drew concentric arcs on the backing of the quilt. I later found out that this is the "Baptist Fan" pattern.

This quilt is hand-pieced and hand-quilted.

I really, really like this quilting thing!