I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. I was losing steam on garment projects and just needed something to break it up and get me excited again. I think that just goes with the territory when I tend to binge sew certain items (ie, clothing, bags, quilts, embroidery….) Also, I’ve not been sewing much at all during the days because I’ve taken on a single parenting role on weekdays. Justin recently got laid off and is now working two full time temp jobs while he searches for another job, so we are finding a new normal for our everyday schedules. I firmly believe in an absence of a universal “norm”, so we are adapting to what works for us and trying to do so happily.

Anyway, I was feeling a little bit stuck, not only stuck in the house, but stuck in some state of limbo trying to figure out how to do this alone and do it well. I needed to keep my mind from dwelling on the situation, and instead take advantage of it. And frankly, I just needed to do a little something for me. With a nothing to lose attitude, I went straight for the diamonds in my stash and started chopping away. That’s right, the precious Little Folks voile and Liberty were getting married into my perfect project, which is actually for Layla. The process itself is for me, I don’t need the end product to be for me. I can’t even show you the whole thing because its was too huge to fit in a picture in my house. 

I chose to use Anna’s Dowry pattern, a free quilt pattern she wrote to compliment her Dowry collection a while back. The pattern could not have been better. I wanted something quick and satisfying that would allow me to show off my favorite prints without chopping them into little bits. I wanted something simple to look at, leaving the visual interest mainly in the colors and prints themselves.

In just two days, I had pulled prints, cut, and assembled the whole quilt. It was easy to put together and lots of fun to arrange.

Its a twin size quilt, finishing at 70″ x 90″, and its meant for Layla’s bed. She’s head over heels in love with it, which makes me even more excited. She requested one of the Liberty prints for backing, and as much as I would like to oblige, I simply cannot afford that much yardage of Liberty at the present time. So we browsed the internet together for an AMH print on sale that she would love, and we found the perfect one! Hopefully it will arrive later this week and I can start hand quilting this beauty. I had a good friend very generously offer to quilt it for free on her long arm, but from the beginning, this one was meant to be quilted by hand.

I’m happy to report this quilt top did just what it was intended to do- it brought me out of my creative rut, and got me excited to move onto the next projects in my queue. I have some bags to finish up this weekend- my signature pouches featuring the brand new Cotton + Steel- and I have a second quilt top cut and ready to be sewn together for a birthday present. Wish me luck! I can’t wait to show them to you!

-Meredith