Every good club has a password, a clubhouse and a calendar full of meetings nobody would dream of missing. The Resting Stitch Face Club has all three, plus a membership that grows every time a quilter squints at a seam and decides it will do. This collection is the clubhouse: sayings members whisper at the door, portraits hanging over the fireplace and a design for every season the club gathers.
The passwords at the door
Say one of these and you are waved right in. Afraid Seam? Laughed the Ripper. spells its question in patchwork letters of gingham, florals and dots, with a seam ripper standing guard at the end. F-CAW-F, I'm Quilting puts a glossy black crow at an old machine, piecing a checkered quilt with total concentration, and in the color version he spreads his wings wide over a stack of bright patchwork. Life Is Short. Buy More Fabric. is cut out letter by letter from prints like a ransom note, which feels about right. And Friends, Quilts & Coffee says in plain bold type what every meeting is actually for.
Portraits in the clubhouse
Every club honors its founders. Marie FabCakes-Nette poses in powdered curls and blue silk, a rotary cutter raised like a scepter and a layer cake of stacked fabric on the plate in her other hand. Stitchy Face is a sweet cat face pieced from pastel wedges, one eyebrow raised just enough. Tongue is a patchwork flower with big blue eyes, sticking its tongue out at a tricky block, and Twisted is a spool wound sky high with rainbow thread looping loose around it. Resting stitch faces, all of them, and proudly so.
The club calendar
Members never lack a reason to meet. October brings Nightmare Stitches, a skeleton in a floppy straw hat bent over her machine while an owl looks on. December brings The Quilter's Christmas Tree, trimmed with spools, tiny quilts and ornaments. The calmer months belong to Mandala Maker, a machine set in lavender lace, Stained Glass Stitches in jewel tones, and Zen Kitty Quilter, where a cat naps beside the machine under a swirling starry sky. Spool Blooms grows spools of thread on green stems like tulips, and a golden retriever and a German shepherd each sit for the I Like Quilting and My Dog designs.
Who gets a membership card
The quilter who mutters at her walking foot and then laughs about it. The friend who shows up to sew day with a thermos and a story. The one who has perfected the look that says do not talk to me until this border is on. You know exactly who already belongs. Meetings are held wherever the machine is humming, and the only club rule is that the seam ripper gets a seat at the table too.
Written by Judy. Thanks for reading.
