"He quilted in the evening in front of the television, as Elaine used to do. Something about the repetitive motion of quilting allowed his mind to disconnect from himself, to float on a stratum out of reach of his anger and the slow, steady ache of loneliness. In those moments he could remember Elaine without pain.
Working on the cancer quilt became a way to fill the empty hours between work and sleep. The quilt became a tribute to her, a link to her. Sometimes he felt as if she were watching over his shoulder, encouraging him to persevere, shrugging off his mistakes. At first his stitches were huge, crooked, and scattered, as if someone had spilled a bag of long grain rice on the quilt. As the weeks passed, they became smaller and more precise, falling into a distinguishable pattern of loops and scrolls.
He finished the quilt a few weeks shy of the first anniversary of Elaine's death. Following the instructions in her books, he attached a hanging sleeve to the back of the quilt and hung it in the living room. It clashed with the rest of the furnishings, but he didn't care. In fact, he respected the disruption. He figured that was part of the message of the quilt.
On the night that marked one full year without Elaine, Christine and Charlie came into the city to distract him with dinner at his favourite restaurant. They didn't tell him that was the reason, of course, but he knew. When they came over to pick him up, they stopped short at the sight of the cancer quilt. Christine sucked in a breath; Charlie let out a low whistle.
"Interesting choice in ... art, buddy," said Charlie dubiously.
"Elaine designed it," Christine warned in an undertone.
"I mean, it's great," said Charlie quickly. "It's ... Wow. Elaine did good work."
"Elaine started it. I finished it."
Two pairs of eyes fixed on him. Then Charlie laughed. "You finished it?"
"That's right." Russ studied the quilt for a moment. "And I'm thinking about starting another."
And he did! This is from the wonderful book "Circle of Quilters" by Jennifer Chiaverini.
There are lots of male quilters around. Here are two great sites about them (there are many more!):
http://nachograndmasquilts.blogspot.com/2009/05/male-quilters-blogs-and-websites.html
http://manquilters.ning.com
This is my portrait of "A Man" (with a piece of glass attached in the middle):
