Project quilting 11-2

TEAMS

   My initial response to this challenge was quite negative. I hate sports teams. It might be because I never found a sport I was even moderately good at, with the exceptions of ping pong and deck tennis. Since no one has ever heard of deck tennis, and only China (and Forrest Gump) seem interested in Ping Pong, I was out of luck for any Hall of Fame.  My family generally wasn't interested in sports either. My father was more of the fishing, hunting, big garden type and so most of my younger and teenage years were spent either doing chores or reading and drawing. Things I could do at home because home was where my father wanted me to be...doing Chores. 

  Any team endeavors were along the lines of school assignments. You know, working on a project in a group. There were always the ones who did the part they were assigned and then had to do the parts the others didn't do, or every one's grades were at risk. Guess which one I was? I always ended up having to do most of the work. I'm by no means alone in this. Watching the changes as my kids went through school, team work has become the primary focus of most classroom work. Even in elementary school, there were multiple opportunities for large and small group work, but seldom individual work. It was my understanding that this change was requested by the business sector, in response to their emphasis on teams of workers who were assigned to complete a certain task. I am concerned about the lack of accountability and excellence in our society.

  My town was situated between two major cities with universities with football teams. The town was divided in their loyalties and I knew I couldn't care less about attending either one. I decided to attend the local Jr. College and, despite earning an art scholarship, I had to work nights at the local meat packing plant, slicing bologna, packaging sausages, and occasionally, being a weenie thumper until midnight. I would go home, do my homework, write my papers and get up to attend classes...wash and repeat. 

 Meanwhile, the terrible basketball team had a full ride (including meals and housing) because they could handle a ball instead of a pencil or brush. Clearly, my resentment grew. When I graduated (with honors) I could have transferred to either university, but in our state, there were two universities that were just Junior/ Senior years (and masters). Better yet, there were no teams! Yes, I chose that! 

  And so I packed my bags for the University of West Florida in Pensacola and spent some wonderful years there.

new logo

  Of course now it's a 4 year University and has sports teams, but back then, it only had a shell and, while I'm sure a hungry Nautilus can be scary if you are prey, on the surface it just doesn't scream ferocious. Still, it's not often that your University doesn't have a team, but does has a sailing club and University owned beaches. 

  I was lucky enough to win a prize last week from Project Quilting. It was the little twister template from the Twister Sisters. So I decided to try it using my school's colors. I just followed the general directions that came with the template. It was easy to follow and fairly easy to cut.

 When it came to quilting the piece, I wanted to acknowledge UWF's Shell (old logo). I used tracing paper and made several shell line drawings on it. I pinned it to the top of my quilt and free motion quilted over them. I wet the paper and removed it from the quilt then filled in the rest of the space with some bubbles and curving lines to represent water.

 I've never done quilting like this before and I'm still not great at free motion quilting, but I'm thankful for the practice.

Twisting at the Beach

26.5" x 20.5"