MLIS Quilt

MLIS Quilt
MLIS Quilt

This is not my work, except for the repair job I just finished. At some point this quilt got a rip in the border. I decided to take off the extra border and put a new binding on it. Sadly, I did not have enough of that fabulous green, but the red-violet looks good, I think

This was a gift from two of my sisters-in-law when I graduated from my Master’s program. I have a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. At the time, the program was, what we in the business call, ALA accredited. That means that I can work in public and academic libraries, which require that accreditation. Sadly, I was in the last graduating class from that program. They have a School of Information, but no longer train librarians.

Anyway, this is an awesome snapshot of a time in my life. Each book represents a facet of my life and all are still important to me. The upper left shows the insignia of my sorority. Most of my good friends come from that experience. While you may think of ‘Animal House’ when you hear sorority, I met lifelong friends, received a scholarship which allowed me to complete my Master’s degree and learned what philanthropy was all about.

The upper right shows a book with my degree on the spine. I am the first person in my family to receive a Master’s degree. My dad would have preferred I became a salesperson, but I feel I have done well and been happy as a librarian.

The lower left represents the University of California, Berkeley. Many of the members of DH’s family have degrees from Cal, as it is affectionately named. I have both my Bachelor’s and Master’s from UC Berkeley. It is also the joint family activity to attend Cal football games. They generally do not do well, but hope springs eternal and stories about trips to bowl games are regularly recounted.

Finally, in the lower right is a book that says ‘QuiltNet’ on the spine. QuiltNet was probably the very first listserv, or email list about quilting. At that time, you had to find space on a server that would allow you to create an email list. You couldn’t create an account on Groups.io and have an email list running in 10 minutes. I don’t remember very well how most people got their messages, but I remember logging into a UNIX server and reading messages using a tool called ‘vi’. No WYSIWYG! We talked about quiltmaking and described our quilts because there was no way to take a photo then attach it to an email message. It was a very vibrant list that led to a variety of friendships, exchanges and information about all sorts of quiltmaking topics. QuiltNet really opened up quiltmaking to me.

I am so pleased that I finished, finally, repairing this quilt. It has been on my list for ages. Now it is time to hang it up again so I can enjoy it.

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.