Thursday, July 28, 2011

Michael5000 Strikes Like Lightning


Meet Niece #4.  This is her, and me, in one of her less kinetic moments.  She is a vigorous and frank and fierce and lovely creature, and lots of fun.

I took this picture of us, which I love, on Christmas night.  I had wandered off by myself to read, but she followed me and we ended up chatting quietly for more than an hour, which is of course a pretty huge win for the serious Uncle.

Niece #3, who is obviously Niece #4's big sister -- Nieces coming in two sets of two -- had got one of the "StormQuilts" under the tree on Christmas morning, after having pretty much adopted it while I was finishing it at Thanksgiving.  So, at some point I told #4 that I hoped she didn't mind that her sister had got a quilt and she hadn't.  "No," she said, "but I do want you to make me one."

Now these were marching orders I was prepared to follow.  As it happened, I had already started work on a quilt for her, a stripy thing in a turned-down version of the toxic pink with which she had been decorating her room of late.  I was pretty pleased that she definitely wanted a quilt, and welcomed the chance to probe a bit.  "Would you want it to be pink?" I asked.

"No," she said.  "Not Pink."

Then, surprisingly: "I know what I want it to look like.  It should be dark blue, almost black, but with a bright lightning bolt going through it."

Oh!  Back home, I boxed up the pinks, and got to work on a new plan.  And here's Niece #4's quilt, which I finished up and sent her a month or two ago.


It's about 71" x 41", and the back is bright yellow flannel.  In the official catalog of my output, which is kept by me, it is Quilt Number 59.  It's more or less the 70th quilt I've made.  Go figure.

10 comments:

Chance said...

"In the official catalog of my output, which is kept by me, it is Quilt Number 59. It's more or less the 70th quilt I've made. Go figure."

Can't.... figure... out... paradox

Awesome looking quilt though

Ben said...

Is Niece #4 a San Diego Chargers fan, by chance?

Elaine said...

I think you are in the Super Uncle Hall of Fame. Awesome! And a darling picture, for sure.

UnwiseOwl said...

Kick ass picture, kick ass quilt.
This Australian would like to submit an application to become neice #5. Where do I sign up?

Michael5000 said...

Chance: Oh Gawd. Let's see. I used to assign quilts numbers as soon as I "decided to make them," which means for instance that there's like a Quilt #35 or so that hasn't been started "yet." So then I decided to start giving numbers when I finish. But the StormQuilts don't get their own number. Equals 70! ish!

Ben: I doubt it. You could check with my sister.

Elaine: I concur.

Owl: You, too, will need to check with one of my sisters.

Jenners said...

That is an excellent photo of the two of you.
You are really neat uncle.
You are an excellent quilter. Color me impressed.

Rebel said...

Dude, that is a rockin' awesome quilt. Will you be going into more detail about it on your quilty blog? I wanna see the quilting up close etc.

McGuff said...

Ms. Finn found the picture of you and your niece to be "Tender and it touched my heart". And loved the one hour talk too.

I hadn't realized that for several years I have failed to mention to the Ms. that said niece(s) share a common background with our daughters.

However, I will ensure that she does not discover the L&T category "My nieces are better.....", even though nieces and daughters cannot be compared.

Phineas

Eavan Moore said...

It is a pretty snazzy quilt, yes. Very bold. I like the yellow on the edge.

Melissa said...

This is so sweet. Your nieces are very lucky to have such a cool uncle!