The Garden of My Life -
Step 5
Mountians
Finished Block Size:
5” x 9 ½” (triangle)
As I drew my pictures of
gardens in the early mornings, I learned to pray. God please let
my father be sober today. I don’t know if I could tolerate and
survive another day of his drunken meanness. These days I would
cry a lot. It would be difficult to find the peace in the gardens
so I would switch modes and do math problems. Any kind of math but
playing with triangles was a favorite. How many ways could I join
the triangles and what did they create when I was finished. Did they
require a little geometry to calculate or just the straight edge of the
ruler that I had hidden in the desk drawer. I had to hide
everything sacred to me or the brothers would find my treasures and they
would be gone. Sometimes my gardens would just be marked out areas
that I could plant my flowers and vegetables. I would
strategically place the seeds so that the taller plants would be in the
back and not block the noon day sun required to grow the plants. I
would place rocks around the edge of my garden to mark the territory
that no one could cross over to trample the seedlings.
Why couldn’t we just leave
this madness and live with the happy family down the street? My
mother wed the man for life. I guess that is why marriage is
considered an institution. We were in the nut house if you asked
me. We still found joy in simple things and again I would pray
that God would save me from all of this. Well friend know that God
has a plan for you and will use even the nut house to grow your life
into a beautiful garden. He will allow weeds to grow but they too
can be removed and beautiful results will prevail. I did not
understand nor did I relish the sad times but then a new day would come
and I would again find the joy in my drawings. I was the oldest
and I would have to protect the brothers for years. I would take
the brunt of the punishment and pray that they would be spared the
anguish that I endured.
The good news is the man
died and can no longer impose the evil sentence on me. I am free
to run. I am free to dance. I am free to sew all day long if
I chose to! And some days that is just what I do. I find my
joy and peace in sewing. At the end of the day you will see a star
if you just look up and thank the God who gave you yet another day.
This month we will join
those triangles that I drew as a child. These triangles represent
the ups and downs of daily challenges life brings our way.
From Red print: cut
(4) squares 3 ¾” x 3 ¾”, cut once on the diagonal
(20) squares 3 3/8” x 3 3/8”
From Black floral prints: cut from each
(6) squares 5 ¼” x 5 ¼”, cut twice on the diagonal
From Black button print, cut
(2) strips 9 ¼” x WOF, subcut into
(4) 9 ¼” squares, cut twice on the diagonal
(4) squares 4 ½” x 4 ½” All seam allowances are ¼”.
Construct large pieced triangle unit:
1. Sew one of each of the Black floral print triangles to a Red 3 3/8” square. Make 20. (8 Black floral triangles are reserved for Step 3.)
2. Sew a large Black button triangle to the pieced triangle unit. Make 20.
3. Sew mirror image pairs of 3 ¾” Red and the reserved Black floral triangles. Make 4 of each. (You may want to take care to follow the pattern established in step 1.)
4. The four 4 ½” Black button squares will be used when putting the quilt top
together
See you next month!
