A Listener's Story: I Admit It, I Sew Quilts

On this episode of Our American Stories, our next story comes to us from a listener, Paul Bauer—a regular contributor out of the Great White North, Minneapolis, MN.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. And our next
story comes to us from a listener, Paul Bauer, a
regular contributor out of the Great White North Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Here's Paul with a story he's entitled, I Admit it.
I saw quilt.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I think most of us have seen them. Behautifully colored
squares of fabric sewn together by hand into various patterns,
transforming into a magnificent homemade quilt. My grandmother made one
for me old pajamas that she had cut up and
sold into a lovely quilt. My church has a quilting club,
and each year their friendly ladies put on their hard

(00:54):
work on display and sell them at our church festival.
Making these fine works of arts seems like the perfect
hobby for older women with lots of time on their hands. Well,
it is fair to refer to me as old a
woman would be a stretch. I'm six foot six inch
two hundred and fifty pound fifty nine year old man.
It is not uncommon for a complete stranger to ask

(01:14):
me in passing whether I ever played football or basketball. No,
I would tell them I was a hockey and baseball
player back in the day, but not once as a
single person ever come up to me big fella and
asked if I sewed quilts. But it's time for me
to admit it. I'm no longer going to keep it

(01:35):
a secret. I do, in fact, sow quilts. YEP. A
handful of years ago. I made my very first one,
and surprisingly I became hooked. But I don't want to
get ahead of myself. Sewing quilts was the last thing
I ever imagined I would be interested in doing. I'm
always on the go. I'm horrible at sitting still. As

(01:55):
much as I enjoy watching a football or baseball game,
I can't sit still long enough to watch a complete
Sitting in front of a television for that long is
not for me. But nowadays I can sit for hours
and hours in front of a sewing machine working on
my latest quilt. How did this come to be? It
started by chance seven years ago when my father in law,

(02:17):
Ron passed away and it was time for Joan, my
mother in law, to go through Ron's belongings. She came
across his collection of T shirts. Ron loved classic cars.
He owned a nineteen sixty two Corvette that he restored.
Ron enjoyed going to classic car shows and mingling with
the other car lovers. He started a tradition of buying
T shirts at each of the sols he attended. When

(02:40):
Joan started cleaning out dresser drawers, she didn't know what
to do with all these T shirts. Ron was a
big man, and Joan figured his shirts wouldn't fit anybody
in the family other than me. I didn't want to
disappoint her, so I said, sure, I'll take them. I
knew I would never wear them. Classic cars are not
my thing, but I graciously accepted her gift. The shirts were,

(03:01):
after all, a nice reminder of my father in law.
Later that summer, I attended my niece's high school graduation
open house. There hanging on displaying their garage was a
quilt made of the various school sports jerseys my niece
wore over the years. It was unique and inspiring. Aha,
I said to myself, I now know what to do

(03:22):
with Ron's T shirts. I will turn them into a
lovely quilt and surprise Joan, gifting back to her the
tea search that she gifted to me. With a slightly
different twist, I mentioned this idea to my daughter, Katy.
Katie learned how to sew from our neighbor who was
an avid sewer working full time at a local fabric store.
She invited Katy to over to their house now and

(03:43):
then and taught her how to use the sewing machine.
I asked Katy if she would teach me the basics
so I could sow these shirts together for Grandma. She
was surprised in my interest in learning to sew, but
she thought I had a good idea, so she said, sure, Dad,
I can show you how to sew. I don't know
if you have the patience for it, but we can try.
I so that night I went to our local Joanne

(04:03):
fabric store and I bought myself the cheapest sewing machine
they had. This was only a one time deal. This
machine only had last me one quilt and then I
would store it away or give it away, never to
be used by me again. Katie set the machine up
for me, showed me how to thread the bobbin and
the needle, which was not an easy task for these
big myths that I own finesse that's not my strong suit.

(04:26):
She showed me how to put the two pieces of
fabric together face to face and using a quarterrant seam allowance.
How to start my project. I did lots of practicing
on scrap metal, and once I felt I had the
system down, I started on Ron's T shirts. They were
starting to come together. I could see a few flaws
and the lines were not perfectly straight, but I had
my first row done, three shirts side by side, separated

(04:49):
by two inches of maroon fabric. When Katie came over,
I probably showed her my progress. Look, my first row
is done. Unable to hold back my excitement, Katie examined
my work say she was not impressed. Would be putting
it mildly, Dad, She said, in a tone that only
a daughter could have. You have no idea what you
are doing. You have a good idea gifting this to Grandma,

(05:11):
But why don't you just pay someone to do this
for you? This looks horrible. I was taken aback shocked
by her blunt review of my hard work. I sat
there for a few seconds, putting my ego in check,
and thought about it a bit before responding, perhaps she
is right. I am indeed out of my comfort zone,

(05:33):
and the start to Jones Quilt is a little bit sketchy,
I had to admit. But then I responded Katie, I said,
you are right. I could pay someone to make this
for Grandma, but I don't think what would mean as
much to her. I think she would like it a
lot more knowing I made this for her, flaws and all.
I'm not so sure Katie was convinced, but I was.
In my mind. I knew I had a good idea

(05:55):
and I was determined to see it through. I ain't
no quitter. The next day, when I started working on
Joan's quilt again, I realized Katy did me a huge
favor with her honest assessment. She provided me all the
motivation I needed to put this quilt together for Joan.
The competitive side and me kicked in. Not only was
I going to finish this for Joan, but now I

(06:15):
was determined to show Katy I could do it as well.
I gave myself some more time to practice, and then
started back on the quilt. Before I knew it, my
first quote was finished. Yes, that wasn't perfect, but I
think it looked pretty darn good, and as with most gifts,
it's the thought that counts. Joan was indeed surprised, but
she loved it, and to this day she has a
display in her living room, draped over the back of

(06:37):
the sofa. Mission accomplished. I put that sheep sewing machine away,
never to be touched by me again, out of sight,
out of mind. A couple of years later, my son
Tim passed away unexpectedly. This time it was me who
came across drawers full of T shirts Tim's two children.
My grandkids were ages eight and two at the time.

(06:58):
I didn't want them to figet about their daddy, so
my next two quilts were born T shirt quilts for
my grandkids, with an added twist of photos I printed
out with them and their dad, enhancing some of the squares.
I started getting this T shirt quilt making down, and
I have to admit each one was getting a little
bit better than the others. I was getting the hang
of this sewing thing. I started enjoying it so much

(07:19):
that I began looking for additional reasons to make my
next quilt. I volunteer some of my time at a
local assisted living center, and in doing so I got
to know some of the residents quite well. Don is
a resident there who became my weekly cribbage partner. I
learned how he had a Harley Davidson and he loved
to ride motorcycles back in the day. He was even
a member of a motorcycle club in Montana along with
his friend Evil Knievo. So one day I went to

(07:42):
a nearby good Will store in search of Harley Davidson's
t shirts. I found a few that I knew had
worked quite well in his quilt, along with the Harley
Davidson leather jacket. Perfect. I purchased these and cut them up,
sewing the shirts together along with the pockets and zippers
from the jacket, and I gifted these to my good
friend Don. His surprise and his smile that was priceless.

(08:05):
But I still only knew how to make the basics
at this point. So I stopped in my local Joy
and Fabric store and told the friendly lady at the
sowing counter my latest idea and asked if she could
show me how to sew a stitch that I hadn't mind. Sure,
she said, she was eager to show me some of
her tricks and shortcuts. She sat me down on her machine,
showed me how to start and stopped this new stitch,
and how to set it up on the machine. Sit

(08:27):
here and give it a try, she said. So I
took her practice fabric and with my hands close to
the needle, I started, but suddenly I screamed, ouch, and
I pulled my hand away. The nervous employer yelled, oh no,
are you okay, slyly, I said, just kidding. I showed
her my hand was just fine. At first she gave
me a mean glare, but then a few seconds later

(08:48):
she had a big smile and staid with a chuckle.
Nobody has ever done that to me before. Maybe there
were not a lot of pranksters in the sewing community,
but sometimes I can't help myself. Point I had run
into a problem. My cheap sewing machine, while it lasted
longer than the one quilt I had bought it for,
was starting to act up. It was breaking down. That Christmas,

(09:09):
my daughter, Katie, the same daughter who I love so
much and who motivated me with her honest feedback. This
precious daughter of mine, surprised me and gifted me a
sewing machine. Not the cheapest at the store like I
had picked out. This one was much more advanced, with
many more stitching options. It's even digital, and it's so
much easier to use. I almost feel like I'm cheating.
When I use it. As you can tell, I could

(09:32):
go on and on, as I have made many others
as well. Who would have thunk it me? Six foot
six inch Paul Joseph Bauer, maker of quilts. That has
a pretty nice ring to it, and it is a
badge I now wear with pride. So anyway, next time
you meet a stranger who's built like a middle linebacker
or a tight end and you aren't sure how to
break the ice and start a conversation, perhaps rather than

(09:55):
asking if you ever played football, you could ask him
if he sews quilts. Imagine surprise if he responds with
a resounding yes and he begins to describe the various
quilts he has made and how he has found an
enjoyable way to spend cool Minnesota winter evenings in front
of a fancy sewing machine rather than in front of
the television.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the production
on the piece, and thanks to Paul Bower, a regular
contributor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And my goodness, the image of
a six foot six gentleman wandering around at Joanne's for
himself and probably alone, is worth the price of that story.
And by the way, I admit it. I love to iron.

(10:35):
I'll iron my clothes, my wife's clothes, my wife's mother's clothes,
my daughter's clothes. I'll iron the cat if it's possible.
The story of Paul Bower's sewing passion. Here on our
American Stories