Brody's Quilt, Cabaret , and Camelot

     Finis! Never underestimate the power of a deadline or the announcement of a birth. Congratulations to my nephew and his lovely wife on the birth of their first child, Brody. The little guy came a little early, thus putting the vise grips on his old Auntie Lynn and kicking me (haha, unintentional football joke) into gear to complete his blanket!

As you can see, it's am little different than the original plan I had graphed out. I was concerned that the other version might have an adverse effect on his vision because it was BUSY, BUSY!

Believe it or not, this is a lot less so. Besides, since they say that infants see black and white and red best to begin with,  the stimulation will do him good, while making his dad happy because one of his favorite teams  (The University of Louisville)is so well represented.

That black binding gave me pause, because part of me was really having a hard time putting black on a baby's quilt, but it really did look the best.

The backing presented something of a problem. I got some official fabric for Brennen's other fave team,  the Philadelphia Eagles, whose colors are green and black and silver and white or some combination thereof. I had to look it up, even after I got the fabric, and it still wasn't clear. Apparently, they have changed it around some over the years. In any case, red and green can present a problem - a problem called Christmas. And it DID look like Christmas had exploded all over the thing when I put the Eagles fabric up next to the U of L fabric. I really didn't like having the two prints abutted, even at the edges. Also, the length I had ordered ended up being just a little short for the length of the quilt top and I would have ended up piecing it and running the Eagles print oriented the long way on the back of the quilt , and I didn't like how it looked. What to do, what to do...?

      I reached down deep to find my inner child-of-a-football-coach. (Thanks, Dad). So , a "field " of Eagles surrounded by white softened the overall busy-ness. The background color of the print is much greener than it looks here.The ten yard lines are done with 1/8th inch ribbon; the goal posts are made from bias binding which I hand applied. The football is a large machine applique with ribbon and bias detail. I initially wanted to do smaller footballs in the corners, but my son, Owen, suggested the large central motif. He was right, of course. I think it's fun - and I hope they will like it. Part of me wanted to go crazy detail-wise, but instead opted for a child-like simplicity appropriate to the occasion.


      Why mention Cabaret and Camelot? One of my favorite things about handwork is that it goes so well with TV watching, and/or pondering the universe. I saw parts of both of these movies while I was tying the quilt and working on the appliques.

      When I was in high school, Cabaret came out and I loved it - it was exotic and sensual and artsy and intellectual and sexy and Sally Bowles was a professional singer with green fingernails, for heaven' sake! "Divine Decadence". Oh, yeah, very impressive at age 17 in 1972.

      Camelot had been out for awhile. I thought it was stupid. Overly romantic and sappy and not very hip, to my way of thinking. I liked  Richard Harris a lot, and many of the songs, but it had nowhere near the edginess of Cabaret.

       Life as unfinished business: as I watched these two films, it became apparent that they have similar themes - a perfect world destroyed; one by love, one by hate. But now, I understand King Arthur's suffering and his dilemma of loving and letting go; pride and betrayal; duty and love. I still don't like the movie that much, but I understand it better now.

       As for Sally Bowles, dear Lord, whatever did I see in her? She's a mess - just ridiculous! Hedonistic and naive, selfish and shallow. I couldn't even watch it, actually.

      Always in a state of working on things, right? Maybe the day will come when I watch Cabaret again, and feel the way I did in high school.  My kids will love that. In the meantime, I will keep working my way through these "meditations" of mine, one at a time.

Thanks for reading,

Lynn