Magic in the Making
After I made my first quilt, I knew I wanted to make quilts for both of my daughters. We have cold winters in the midwest and I wanted something super warm and cozy. It was just around this time that Brittany from Lo & Behold Stitchery published a whole blog post tutorial on her ombre puff quilt which was inspired by her grandmother’s puff quilt. I had never seen or heard of a puff quilt, as I had just started quilting a few months earlier. I knew these would be perfect for the girls and the next quilting project I wanted to tackle.
As an aside, I am typically someone who likes to take the ball and run with it, especially when it comes to gifting. I am also the mom that typically has a hard time letting go of control and letting my kids do things on their own so that things are done my way. I’m cringing as I type this out because I’m very aware this is a fault of mine, and it is something I frequently try to let go of. I’m a work in progress! I am sharing this for context. I would not normally let go of creative control over a project that I am personally making to gift to someone else. But here’s the deal, I wanted these quilts to be used by my kids and not sit in their closets. In all honesty, I knew from my own experience that sometimes family heirlooms, as special as they may be, just sit in cedar chests for safe keeping. I wanted the girls to love and use the quilts, and not just hold on to them because I made them.
With all of that said, I did something that was out of my comfort zone…I let each girl pick the fabric for their own quilts.
As expected, the girls went in totally different directions and one went for bright, cheery citrus colors, and the other for a calmer, more soothing, purple palette. Let me tell you, picking the fabric turned out to be so much more fun than I anticipated. This was still at the height of covid, so we browsed online and discovered the best fabric shop websites that are still some of my very favorites today. I still buy from Cottoneer, Fat Quarter Shop, and Hawthorne Supply Company today. We scrolled side by side, snuggled on the couch, and talked about what fabric matched, what didn’t, what complimented each other and what clashed. The girls got excited when they found a fabric they felt fit perfectly in their palletes. After we placed orders, we had countdowns until the fabric came, and when the fabric did come, unboxing the packages was like opening presents on Christmas Day. Then, I got to work, following Lo & Behold’s blog tutorial step by step. I think Brittany’s blog was pulled up as a tab on my computer for months. She explains things in a way quilters of all levels can comprehend, and it was like her writing held my hand through completion. I hand tied them as you can see in the pics. I did the math for fun because it took so long and each quilt has over 2,000 hand ties!
I can’t really explain the sense of accomplishment you feel when you finish a quilt. It’s something you really hold on to.
Now, when I tell you these quilts have been loved, I mean it. We use them on chilly nights when the girls need an extra blanket on the bed. The girls take them to sleepovers, and their friends have used them at sleepovers at our house. Since they are extra puffy, we put them on the floor to lay on top of in the family room for movie nights.
One of the quilts has marker on it that won’t wash out, and you know what? It’s ok. That marker will forever remind me of the little hands drawing on top of that quilt and it will forever make me smile.
I know that some people want to protect quilts for a lifetime, and as I mentioned, I have some of those, sitting in a cedar chest in my basement. But I want my quilts to be used. The marks are like wrinkles to me, smile lines that remind me of good times and laughter shared. I’m ok with it because I want my quilts to be loved hard. This won’t be the last time the kids pick their own fabric. It’s a new tradition and it was magic in the making.