Braids

When I was 7 years old on Christmas morning, I woke up at the breaking of dawn. I knew it was too early to start shrieking "It's Christmas!!!". So I laid in bed for a while and I started to play with my hair. When I was about 4 or 5, my mom showed me how to braid hair on a Barbie. I had seen an aunt of mine French Braid her hair. Could I do it? I tried - the results was a very crooked "weave" on my head and I had "leftover" hair at the bottom of my neck - but I did it! I actually French braided my hair!!

For many years I was the only girl out of 4 in the house would could French braid. When I was about 10 my mom started growing her hair long, and would ask me to French braid hers. It was kinda hard, she'd make the request right after her daily shower and I can't even French braid my own hair wet. And her hair is also very thick. Sometimes she just got a single braid down her back. My baby sister also picked up French braiding and would do my mom's hair sometimes. Now my mom has neck-short hair and my sister loves to do all kinds of complicated braids in her hair. I find it to be a very satisfying hairstyle when it turns out nicely. :)

And yes, that's a hearing aid you see on my ear. I have two. I was born deaf and have been wearing hearing aids since I was 2. I'm in the severe/profound hearing loss range. I'm pretty dependent on lip-reading and feel very shy about meeting new people. My biggest fear being that I won't understand them.

Last night I started putting together a Pioneer Braid quilt. Or is that a block? Strip. It's a braid strip. :)

I went through my drawer of 2.5" strips and began to cut one 6" log from each color. No repeats. I made a game of picking the next log. I'd close my eyes and randomly flip and grab a piece. Or I'd say "ok, I'm gonna lift 8 logs off and use the one that appears." Or I'd stick my finger between two pieces of fabric and pick whichever one appealed to me more. Or I'd randomly pick the log before I got to the strip. No being choosy! :)

But now I know what I can do with a huge stack of one-inch strips I own. Cut them down to 4" logs and make beautiful braids! It's a great "mindless" sewing. Don't have to worry about seams meeting. Don't have to worry about the fabric matching! And the best part of the 2.5" logs? I'm gonna trim off the triangle edges and use them for corners in string quilts. Waste not, want not. :)

Leah