“What’ll I Do?” is the name of an oldie but goodie popular music piece that was written by Irving Berlin in 1923, but might be remembered by folks who watched the last TV episode of “CHEERS.” The song goes, “What’ll I do when you are far away and I am blue, What’ll I Do?” There are so many widows and widowers, nowadays, that “What’ll I Do?” could become their theme song. For ladies learning how to do things that are so foreign to them, such as filling the gas tank on the car, buying new tires, or even worse, buying a new car, it is quite scary, for sure.
I did have a delightful experience buying a new car this past week, however. It will never be a worrisome thing at all to me ever again. The secret is to have someone with you such as a son or grandson or both who know all the terminology about cars. Some terms such as “Doppelkupplung’ or “tIptronic” went right over my head. I had no clue what in the world the salesperson was talking about, except that I thought he might be speaking another language; he actually was using German terminology. When asked if I would like to test drive the new car, I said, “Of course!” When asked how many miles I usually put on a car in a year, I had to quickly calculate my number of trips to the grocery store in a week, times 52 weeks. This brought a laugh from all involved in this transaction.
I have always been a “car person.” I love cars. My first husband was an antique car ‘nut’ as they are lovingly known to be. After his getting his first antique car, I was surprised to find out that ‘No one has just one antique car.’ Needless to say, we ended up with about five beautiful antique cars. What fun they were. I learned to drive all of them and had a delightful time driving different ones of them to church or social functions. I even had clothes that were suitable for the era of each car. Driving a 1929 Pierce Arrow in a pair of ‘pedal pushers’ would have looked a little strange; or driving a 1920 model Cadillac that was a seven passenger touring car, I had to be dressed in very fancy ‘flapper duds.’ Thus, now that I have a new car, don’t you think I deserve a new wardrobe? Well, maybe not.
Lap robes for the older cars were a must. The heating systems were not the best. My quilted throws were the answer to this problem. I even sold them with the cars when we sold them. There are so many car enthusiasts ‘out there,’ now, that quilted throws are back in style at classic and antique car shows. To have an authentically restored or original car, one must have quilted throws for the cold weather. My favorite quilted throw is a pieced 6 block quilt that is finished about 42” X 56.” This includes sashing, inside border, and outside border and binding.
Pictured is one of my first quilted throws. The 12” quilt blocks are: Ohio Star, Weathervane, Card Tricks, Eight Point Star, Japanese Poppy, and Hands All Around; of course, any traditional quilt blocks could be used.
If you would like to learn how to make this quilt, I will be happy to share the patterns with you if you will attend the Ocean Wave Quilters Guild meeting the second Friday of any month at the The Players Community Center off Palm Valley Rd., behind the Shell station at 10:00 – 12:00. I would consider it a pleasure to have you attend.
