An excerpt from This World So Fierce

  

Yesterday, I told you my exciting news about my book to be published and on shelves soon. I also promised a short excerpt from the book. This is the point in which the protagonist, Mike, meets his new foster family and begins to question where he fits in. 

“He’s eight. I’m nine. He’s in fourth, I’m in second. His teacher, Mrs. Sheryl, says he’s smart enough to know when to be quiet” answered Willie, who answered for Frankie from habit.

“Are you?” asked Mike.

“Ha, nope,” laughed Max and Willie simultaneously.

“Supper’s ready,” called Molly from the door.

“Let’s eat. Fish gravy and French fries,” yelled Willie as he raced back into the small blue and white frame house.

Inside, the rest of the family waited to begin serving plates. Molly quickly placed a large, black-iron pot of catfish sauce piquante in the center of an oak table built of wide rough-hewn planks sanded smooth and waxed to a rich honey-color; she surrounded the pot with bowls of white rice and sliced cucumbers and a platter of fries. Chairs and two benches lined the sides of the table, giving the setting a homey, picnic-like feel. Photos of the children hung on the wall just above the table, which was pushed in toward the wall when not in use. Mixed in with the photos were drawings from some of the kids, crosses, and a plaque with the phrase, “The world so fierce cannot harm family.” Quickly the children found their places and sat down. As the noise settled, Molly invited Mike to sit on one end of the bench closer to the wall and asked Max to say a blessing. Then the chatter picked up again as introductions were made and each child told Mike a little about himself and shared something about his day with the rest of the family. Nikki spoke apprehensively, twisting her fingers on her lap as she spoke to the young man. For some reason—perhaps it was the dark eyes that seemed to stare through her—he frightened her.

Mike told them about himself, but Bud had already filled them in when the family discussed his coming. As he spoke, Mike thought of his real story, not the watered-down version that he had practiced for the last couple of days. His parents were just in the tenth grade when he was born and, at first, he was to live with Meme until they could graduate and get on their feet. They never managed either, quitting school as soon as they were old enough to do so.  Drugs and alcohol were a constant in their lives. They could not hold down jobs, and the split came as no surprise to anyone but Mike. Though Josie had come to get him several times, those times did not last more than a few weeks or months. Her using and her boyfriends always seemed to be more important. Finally—and it ended this way every time—she gave up, chose her life and brought him back to Meme. Back and forth this way, never attending school when he was with Josie, never knowing when or what he would eat, never truly safe, he became a shell of a boy. Then, just as easily and without reason, Josie returned to Meme’s small house for a visit. Always she left a few days later without telling either Meme or Mike goodbye or where she was headed.

He and Meme had not heard from Josie in years, and he assumed she was never coming back. Meme had died two years ago. He was in LTI when she died and that was it. He ended the introduction by noting that now he had only a month to answer to the State. He’d be 18 and on his own. He planned to make his own life.

At this last bit of information Bud and Molly looked at each other. Keeping him in school until graduation would be difficult. The state would allow him to remain in their home beyond his birthday, provided he stayed in school and worked toward his diploma. Their goal was to do exactly that—keep him in school even though it meant he may have another year to go. They knew, however, that earning his diploma would mean a lifetime of difference in his ability to find work and earn a decent wage.

Bud prompted the kids sitting around the table, “The world so fierce…”

“Cannot harm family,” they responded in unison.

“It sounds kinda corny, but we say it for each other, Mike. It’s just a line from a poem. It means we make our own family,” Shane explained.

“Yeah. We pick our destin,” Max added.

“Destiny. But that’s only one word. We choose each other and we choose to find joy in each other. It’s kinda hard to put into words, but you’ll see. We’re brothers and sisters. Just like in other families, cause that’s what we choose,” Trish summed up.

“It’s our way of knowing that we have each other. When other people look at us like we’re weirdos…”

“Or call us “the Orphans,” Trish chimed in.

“Yeah, or whatever else they want to say. It doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, we’re all sitting here just like a normal family and we know we can count on each other.” Shane summed up.

“Yeah, and we don’t hurt each other, right, Bud-wiser?” Willie had taken to calling Bud numerous silly nicknames. It had become something of challenge to create new names, but this was his favorite so far.

A Confession, a Secret, and Good News

If you're wondering how that title makes sense, remember it's one of mine. That said, there are both a confession and good news. The confession first: I have been keeping a secret. For years now. But the secret is out, so I've decided to make it official here as well. Ta Da!

I've written a book and it's going to be published! Yes, that's what I said. A book. By me. Published soon. I know this last bit of news because I APPROVED the cover and the text. Today. Just a minute ago I was working on a client quilt. Finished, I removed it from the frame and trimmed it up. Even cut the binding.

Then my phone dinged. Usually I ignore dings, but I didn't. I had an email saying I had proofs to deal with. Now, if you had book proofs dinging away and a quilt needing a binding, which would you choose to do first? That binding? No way! You'd want to see your dinging book. It is calling after all. So off I went.

Here's the biggest issue I've had with the book: publishing. Writing is easy peasy. Not that publishing is difficult. No, it's clicking the buttons that's difficult. First a button agreeing to terms. Then a payment button--scary. Heavens, it got worse--the next button was to upload the book. To say (to myself) "it's ready to go. There's nothing left to add or detract, to modify or correct or edit or change, or, or, or...."

Yes, that button was a tough one. But at least that button wasn't the final button. No, the final button is the one that says, "okay, I've found ALL the mistakes, I've corrected all those errors. Anything I find now, I'll have to live with. Forever. Live with. Forever." 

Oh wow! The fretting and hemming and hawing and sleeping on it and not sleeping. Night after night of not sleeping. Richard offered to press the button for me. But I put on the big girl step-ins and clicked. Finally. I may have cried just a little tiny bit but I don't think so.

There, the corrections are in. People made those edits, rather quickly, actually. It took less time than clicking the button that sent the corrections. How is it no one else seems to be struggling with these clicks? At any rate, the phone dinged. (We're back to the beginning here.) I opened the files, looked at the revisions I had asked for and... clicked. CLICK. Done. I didn't give myself time to think. 

I may regret that. Well, too bad. It's clicked. The deed done. The stress over. Now I just have to wait for the first books to arrive at my door and hit the shelves. 

In my excitement, I've written enough for several posts. So come back tomorrow and read a short excerpt from the book, This World So Fierce by Mary Bourque Marcotte. (That's me!)

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Words and Phrases

In September of 2015 I wrote this SQI about using text in quilts. At the time I was collecting fabric with words, which was becoming an easier goal anytime I walked into a quilt shop. Today at least one piece in a line of fabric has some kind of lettering or words. And I have enough text fabric to make several quilts. 

Nevertheless, words and how we use them still fascinate me. There are always words in my head. And I analyze sentences, usage, mechanics at the drop of a hat. Ask me if I've seen a sign (or a million) that needed correcting. These quilts don't need a red pen; they just want an audience.

Like the other 13,000+ quilts, these pins can be found in my "heart, quilts" board. In fact, they are in a new board called, "words and texts." Have you made a quilt with words? What about using fabric with text? 

The end of this foolishness

Update: Hurricane Laura is expected to arrive on the heel of our Louisiana boot within the next few hours. Though it is unlikely to affect us, we are concerned about friends who live in the Lake Charles area and family in the Lafayette area. Please pray for the Texans and Louisianans who will be affected by this cat 4 hurricane. 

Remember when I wrote about the hideous quilt on the design wall?

I just realized (sitting here waiting for Hurricane Laura to turn off the lights) that I was tormented by that quilt all the way back in June! 

On the 9th I wrote about trying to start work on it (again) and really didn't get very far. By the end of the month I had gotten to a point that I thought I'd call it quits. But I couldn't because, well, the quilt top wasn't done. It's still hanging on the design wall. I've been working just not on this quilt. In fact, I've been working but not writing. I have a long list of posts that I should catch up on:

1. CQG meeting and sew day
2. BRMQG happenings
3. Mrs. Mary Lee's quilt (finish)
4. my own WIP (finished)
5. a finish from the sew day
6. and some pieces that I've been painting
7. wait, I will have a booth in the local crafts mall (opening in October). 

Those are the things I easily thought of. Imagine what I've not told you! I'll try to play catch up if the electricity survives and we don't have a house full of kids and grandies. There's no working in that happy noise.

Back to the hideous quilt dilemma? Two months of sucking the oxygen out of the room is enough time to call it a dud, don't you think? I'll remove it, fold it up very tightly, put it in a plastic bag, and stuff it in a corner in the studio where the kids will find it one day and ask themselves, "What was she thinking?" First, however, I need to listen to the rain and perhaps take a little nap. I love the sound of rain, not storms. Rain.

Build a Quilt Show -- How to procure judges in 8 easy steps

I honestly have no idea how judging is handled for a big guild or international show. I assume there's a process and it's an enormous deal. I didn't need an enormous deal and am grateful because this deal was plenty big enough. 

I was in charge of a small, local guild show and managed to bring in some pretty awesome judges. I originally had three, but one had a family issue and couldn't come after all. We went with two. Talk about some awesome ladies. 

 It's a wonderful thing to know that there are people out there who are willing to go out of their way to help. Glen and Crissy, you rock! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Here's what I did for a our small event:
1. Determine what your needs are and put the word out. (I asked for help from quilters in other guilds that am a member of.)
2. Contract the judges for pay and mileage.  (In my case, make plans for lunch.)
3. Create a rubric or rules and email or text to judges.
4. Set up date/time for judging before show opens. Keep judges informed as the show gets closer. 
5. Inform the guild treasurer to make a receipt for judges to sign when pay/mileage is received. 
6. When judges arrive, walk them through the rules/rubric, make sure they know which quilts are to be judged. (I put a sticky dot on the numbers of the quilts.)
7. Be ready to do the math if using a rubric (get a math person!) and determine the winners.
8. Put ribbons on winning quilts, pay judges and see them off.

Build a Quilt Show Series:

Getting Started, or A Bad Monday

The People Who Make It Happen

 Build a Hanging System

Procure Your Judges

Build a Quilt Show -- Build a hanging system

So if Monday was a rough day, on Tuesday we were tapping our Ruby Red Slippers. Every quilt agreed with its place in line. All the hooks hooked and all the clips clamped and all the wood stood. Yay! 

Tuesday was hanging day.We had this hanging system built many years ago when the shows were organized for the purpose of raising money for the local museum. Now the guild organizes it and proceeds are used to advance quilting and educate the community about quilts. The museum donated the old system to us. 

As you can see, the bases are huge, heavy wooden triangles (of sorts). Each one holds a 4x4 upright, which in turn holds 2x4 crossbeams. Additional 1x4 crossbeams brace the system and keep the uprights from spreading apart.

We put cup hooks into the 2x4s every 15 inches. Then using binder clips along the top of the quilt, we just hung the quilts onto the hooks. The only time we had an issue was when the quilts didn't measure in increments of 15. That required adding another hook and clip. 

Because some quilts are heavy as heck, I had to devise a better mousetrap. On occasion the quilts would slip right through the binder clips. To avoid that, we slipped this open weave shelf liner over the edge of the quilt and pinned the binder on top. It gave just enough grip for almost all the quilts. 

However, there were some that heavy as heck just doesn't describe. Those quilts we hung on long rods. Then we duct taped the rods to the crossbeams. It looked rough but did the trick. 

One other issue occurred when we'd get close to the end of the line. We looked through the quilts and found one that would fit the last space. Sometimes that last space would hold a large quilt. Sometimes we had to dig for a just-the-right-size quilt. Sometimes, well, we just had to make do. But we did.

It turned out to be a pretty good system. Perhaps not the prettiest way to hang quilts, but it worked. Unfortunately, we could not afford to rent or buy a regular system, so making do is what we did.

Build a Quilt Show Series:

Getting Started, or A Bad Monday

The People Who Make It Happen

 Build a Hanging System

Procure Your Judges

Build a Quilt Show -- Meet the people who make it happen

It takes a small army to put together a quilt show. In addition to men who are able to move heavy loads, figure out the archaic wooden system, and make the hanging system stand upright without falling on folks, there must be people to do a multitude of other things. 

Prepping boards to hang quilts include screwing cup hooks into 2x4s, sorting, labeling and putting clips on quilt bindings. Hanging quilts, keeping track of sudden changes, numbering them, creating a database, building, printing and folding a program. 

Hire judges. Arrange meeting time, lunch, and hostess gifts. Prepare rubrics, devise rules, math the scores, determine winners, pin ribbons/prizes.

Prepare for challenge blocks (which must be organized, introduced, collected, hung, tickets made, etc.) 

Sell raffle tickets for the opportunity quilt (which must be sewn and quilted; plus tickets created, passed out, sold, collected, etc.) 

Collect money at the door. 

Vendors are a whole entity of itself. Someone has create letters, forms and flyers, to send to prospective vendors. Collect, file and organize vendor information. Assign vendor areas. Check that everyone has a space, has paid for the space, and is not taking someone else's space. Collect door prizes. 

Collect door prizes, make sure everyone gets a ticket, pull numbers, announce winners, make calls to winners. Pass out prizes. Advertise vendors. 

Media people must inform the tourism commission, radio, television, newspapers. Facebook. Make and put out flyers. Build and put out signs. Get the word out by any means necessary.

Greet guests. Encourage people to "Do Not Touch the Quilts." Answer questions. Direct. 

Portapotty must be ordered, the truck must be met at delivery, a check must be available. Arrangements for pickup made.

A cake sale requires cakes and other sweets. So bake cakes, deliver, have salespersons who can cut, serve, and wrap cake. Someone who can collect money.

A treasurer must keep all monies separate, have change available, collect funds, make deposits, pay bills. 

Take down the show: remove and return quilts, break down and store quilt hanging system, collect stray items and return them, gather all the office supplies and cake items. Clean and restore room to original order. 

And there you are. People upon people who must work tirelessly for a week putting up and taking down a show so that the rest of us can enjoy the beauty of quilts.

Build a Quilt Show Series:

Getting Started, or A Bad Monday

The People Who Make It Happen

 Build a Hanging System

Procure Your Judges

Build a Quilt Show, Or a Bad Monday

First, you'll need lots of hands. You also need one really patient, hard-working husband. The kind who doesn't quit. Or take a break. Or know when to go home. The kind who can push past his own limits and drag you along. 

And you need friends who will do just about anything, show up on time, and work hard doing things they may not have done before--like work power tools. 

Credit for all photos goes to Helen Mire

Next, you need to have a good plan. And be able to delegate. Then be able to ditch every. single. bit. Of all of it. No, that, too. Whatever that is. Switch to Plan B. Then jump on Plan C. Then forget the plans and wing it. Or let said husband take over. He will anyway, why didn't you just let him loose? (Okay, so it wasn't really like that.)

No one is angry here. This photo of Mrs. Stress, who
is married to Mr. Dilemna, quite often looks just like this.

Finally, go with the one thing you really didn't want to do and tweak it along the way. Have a meltdown, throw a hissy-fit (that's a Southern b-word, btw) and be diplomatic. ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Now breath. It's going to be fine. Here's how Day 1 went down: Ten of our guild sisters turned up and waited patiently while these guys unloaded the trailer and moved wood into staging areas.

Then the ladies put cup hooks onto the wide sides of the 2x4s according to my plans. In the meantime, Richard measured the space only to discover that the info I'd been given was off. Way off. The room was ten feet shorter and six feet narrower. Talk about a difference. Let's not go into how that happened. 

So then I had to scurry around trying to reconfigure the floor plan. In the end I had to have five straight, parallel rows of 2x4s to hang quilts. The mathematics that I'd spent hours on in an effort to streamline the work was ditched. "Just put the hooks every 15 inches." And in less than 30 minutes every bit of work I'd done had been reconfigured into the one setup I'd been trying to avoid. It may work better this way, or not. I have moved on.

We hauled wood, screwed in hooks, built walls, reinforced walls, set up bases, then moved bases, and managed to leave at five o'clock with the hanging system in place. And that was Monday. 

Build a Quilt Show Series:

Getting Started, or A Bad Monday

The People Who Make It Happen

 Build a Hanging System

Procure Your Judges

Sunday Quilt Inspiration

Sunday Quilt Inspiration is becoming more and more difficult lately as it's a struggle to think of anything new. I thought I'd take a look at a few of my older posts in the hopes that I'd come up with something. Then it occurred to me that there are a couple of posts that I could "rerun." This is one that I especially like. Anything in blue is my update from today. I hope you are inspired.

Let's take a look at a few inspiring quilts, shall we?  These come from two of my favorite quilting blogs. They are not the only blogs I visit, of course, but some that I visit often and like very much.  Why not go by and say hello after checking out the inspiring part of this post?

From Carla at Grace and Favor, who is a grandma and quilter we have a couple of darling quilt. It seems that Grace and Favor is no longer active. However, the pieces that Carla put up are still worth taking a look at. Her work is awesome and, yes, inspiring.

Take a close look at Carla's perfect points.....I'm a bit jealous!

For fun a grandchild's mug rug for hot cocoa and cookies.  Now there's a grandma who is inspiring!

Birds on a Wire definitely is worth going to her blog to see.  You need to check out the little clothes hanging beside the quilts.  This is one of my favorites of her quilts....yes, inspiring!

Another fun project: a scrap bucket made of scraps.  I have to make one of these for the studio.  I probably won't use matching scraps since I don't have any, but there are some unused blocks around somewhere........ 

Amber's blog, A Little Bit Biased, is a recent find for me, and I spent perhaps a bit too much time reading her posts and ogling her quilts during the Thanksgiving holidays.  She definitely has lots of talent for both writing and quilting. Today she has renamed her blog Gigi's Thimble and she sells patterns for the beautiful quilts that she designs.

As her header indicates, Amber is also the owner of Gigi's Timble Quilt Patterns.  If you're considering purchasing a pattern, visit her site for some fresh takes on old favorites and for a few surprises also.  Her patterns can also be found on Etsy.

I hope you're inspired to get to your sewing rooms and pull some fabrics out!  I love that feeling of pulling fabrics and getting started on a new project.  Don't you?  Hmm, which color gets to be first this time?