Patchwork Quilt Me
In August 2024, I became a member of the Pelham Toastmasters Club 2307. On Wednesday Sepetmber 25, I shared my first speech – the Icebreaker. Here is the speech that I prepared. And as anyone who has stood in front of a group understands, this is NOT the speech that I gave. But it’s the gist of it.
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Good afternoon Toastmasters. Thank you Randy.
I have been waiting for this day since 1996. Yup. For almost 30 years, I’ve wanted to become a member of Toastmasters. Really.
Like Randy said, I am Emily Pitman. I’ve lived in South Carolina for 9 years, after spending most of my life in the northeast of the United States. One of the spaces where I play and express myself is in quilt-making. As I considered how to introduce myself to you, I recognized that this hobby is an apt metaphor for how I’ve become who I am today.
Quilt making includes six main steps. Ideation and Planning, material gathering, piecing and sewing, trimming and sandwiching, quilting, and finally binding.
I usually begin at step two – gathering my materials. It is in the process of material gathering that I begin to get a vision for what I want to create. I consider the fabrics that I own, the fabric that wants to be owned by me, and the skills and patterns that I want to include.
I have gathered scraps and materials over the last 51 years from a wide variety of places: 20 homes, 29.5 years of marriage, 3 young adult children, 14 ‘jobs’ ranging from food service to dorm mother at a boarding school, from homeschool mom to leadership coach. I have interacted with an interesting mix of people in variety of ways. Some have impacted me deeply, others briefly. They all make up the scraps of quilt that are becoming the quilt of my life.
As I am squarely sitting on the apex of my mid-life, with an emptying nest and more time and focus for myself, I am assessing the materials. I am testing patterns. I am playing with technique. I am supplementing my supplies and stories.
I don’t have a clear sense of what this final quilt will look like, but there are patterns that I have begun to recognize as I look at what is coming together on the work table.
When all the pieces have come together into the quilt top is I decide what weight and which material of the batting – the filler layer – I will use. This unseen layer will determine how warm, how poofy, and how sturdy the quilt will be.
What is my life batting made of?
Creativity is the first tool I almost always grab. Strategy is a strength that often twins with creativity. Connections – with people or ideas – are something that I naturally find – or maybe they find me. I am a positive person, and I find the strength in many viewpoints, even if I disagree. Finally, I believe that humans are much more amazing than they believe they are.
When batting and backing material are chosen and prepared, it is time to make the quilt sandwich. The hardest part of this stage is getting and keeping the wrinkles out. That’s kind of a funny thing to say since I’ve already confessed to be clearly in mid-life. I’m committed to celebrating my gray and to letting my wrinkles tell a story.
Now that I have my sandwich, it is time to decide how stitching will be done through the layers to hold it all together. Stitching can be done to simply hold it together, hidden in the ‘ditches’. Or I could draw designs that are within each fabric swatch or cross over many inches of the quilt top.
As early as the first stage where I am playing with scraps and fabrics, I begin to think about how I want the quilt designed or highlighted with stitching. This is some of the play that I am doing in my life now. Do I want featured pieces of my life, or do I want to pursue a singular cohesive design. One story, or many small adventures that become a scrapbook of fabric and story?
After a quilt is pieced, sandwiched, and quilted, it is time to bind the fabric. I will leave this to my family and friends – the legacy part of who I am. They will be the ones who get to see the finished story, but will ultimately decide the color and fabric that they showcase my quilt with. I hope it is an audacious, bold completion.