The Quilting Bug

That's right, another person has been bitten by the quilting bug. And the worst part? The fabric shopping.

I've always been a fabric junkie but without a sewing machine, not sure how to sew by hand, and no space to store it, I haven't bought any. I have just looked. I love fabric stores and fabric sections. I love looking at colors. I love looking at how patterns go together and can complement one another.

To understand how much I love putting two totally different patterns together and finding how they can work you would have to see my dd's fleece blanket.

This past Thanksgiving weekend I was hit by a deer. And I mean that literally. It jumped into the side of my van, breaking my passenger window, putting a heck of a dent into the my passenger door, and scaring me. Luckily my little one wasn't with me. However her fleece blanket that I had made for her when she was born was set on the passenger seat, where she had left it when she went into daycare. It was then covered in tiny pieces of shattered glass.

Now if anyone knows how you can get all of that out I'd be happy to know because I'm not sure there aren't still pieces of the glass dust on the seat of my van. However it wasn't a risk I was willing to take with my daughter's blanket that even at 4 1\2 (at the time) she wanted every night to sleep with, cuddled up with to watch cartoons with, snuggled into when it had been a long day, etc. And so it went into the dumpster without a second thought, just plenty of worries and heartache. Many had tried to replace this infant sized blanket with a more appropriate sized one, and yet none could take the place of this one that Mommy had made.

I told her that she could go with me to pick out new fabric and we would make a new blanket together. And the fabric she chose, well most wouldn't have put these two patterned fleeces together. One side is light purple with white heart outlines. The other side is fuschia with hearts, peace signs, etc in purple, orange and red. However I saw possibility. Both had purple, both had hearts. This is still not enough that I would have picked these 2 out to go together, except she was set that this is what she wanted.

This blanket still has not taken the place of the duckie blanket that was lost. There are still times when she is sick or tired that she cries and wants that blanket back. But it was the best that could be done.

And so, back to the point that was being made before I went off on a back story, quilting appeals to the part of me that likes to put patterns that don't necessarily go together together anyway, that likes to put colors and patterns together and make something beautiful. No one looks at the patterns and colors of a fabric and says those shouldn't go together. They look at the big picture, the whole quilt, and the beauty of it.

And so, while working on a sampler, I am also mentally choosing my future projects.

Like a attic window quilt for my daughter done with flowers and butterflies as the 'window' portion.

An advent calendar to become our new family's tradition.

A quilt for in the living room in the colors of our living room.

A runner for the kitchen table.

A wedding quilt for my dh and I, even if it is after our wedding.

Lap quilts for my nieces and nephews.

Yup I've been bitten and hard.

My dh's favorite part. I went through my part of the wardrobe and pulled out clothes I don't like, don't fit, or have holes and put them into my scrap fabric bucket. Anything thrifty is good with this family.

My favorite thing? He likes to do woodworking. I can think of a million projects for him to help me, to compliment my quilts, to keep him busy (and spending money) so I can stay busy (and buy more fabric).

It's been a good first week of marriage and it's only going to keep getting better. :-)