The beginning of my quilty journey

The beginning of my quilty journey

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Back in 2006 I would get on etsy and look up "modern quilts" and just droll over the beautiful quilts that were on there. I had always loved modern quilting but just couldn't quite gather the fabrics I liked at the fabric store to put what I was visualizing in my head, to a reality; which was super discouraging.  I remember telling my mom that I wanted to make a 'bright' quilt with white background fabric but my mom told me to stay away from white and should do an ivory color as the lightest color. She feared that the white would show dirt very easily and I could see her point of view on that. So off to Joann's fabric store I went to gathered fabrics for an attempt to make my first modern quilt. All I had in my head was a quilt that I saw on etsy and decided I would just wing it and make one like it since there was no pattern that I could find. I found some graph paper and designed my very first quilt. It came together very quickly and before I new it, it was all finished. Growing up I had always helped my mom yarn tie blankets but had never had a quilt longarm or free motion quilted and I new that this quilt would be quilted and not yarn tied. When I had finished the quilt top I soon discovered that it was a bit narrower then I had anticipated. So I put it aside and told myself I would just go to the store later and get more background fabric to add to the sides to make it wider..... Well flash forward to 2016 and there it still sits unfinished and I can't find the same shade of background fabric to add more for the extra width. My first stab at modern quilting was kind of a bust. Several attempts were made after that but never even came close to finishing and they just ended up just being thrown out.

I was getting the itch to start quilting again and in 2013 I discovered Thimble Blossoms Blog. I was absolutely in awe over how beautiful her quilts and fabrics were. Prior to this point in time, I had no idea that charm parks, layer cakes, jelly rolls or even a line of fabric that ALL coordinated together, even existed. My mind was blown. THIS was exactly what I was looking for and THIS was exactly my style. Camille had just announced her new pattern book, Simply Retro and I pre-ordered it immediately. While I was waiting for her book to ship, I found her Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple video on Craftsy.  I learned so much from that class and I couldn't wait to start quilting. A few short weeks later the book arrived and I new exactly that her Fresh quilt would be the first quilt I would make. So I started ordering my fabrics in Bonnie and Camille's marmalade line... Which at the point in time, marmalade was OOP so the price tag on those charm packs and layer cakes were pretty pricey but I honestly didn't care. I was so excited and happy to find fabrics that all coordinated and were so beautiful together that the price just didn't matter at that time. This quilt pretty much consists of half square triangles (hst) and I had never even made a half square triangle before or had even heard of one. I soon realized that hst require trimming and my sew-jo quickly dissipated. Life got busy and struggles with infertility weighed me down and soon sewing was pushed off on the back burner. After 2 years of slooowwwwly working on the quilt top, I had finally finished piecing it! I was so thrilled.

Sadly, that quilt top sat for ANOTHER year before it got quilted by Nicole at Kwilt it using this quilt pattern from Urban Elementz.

Nicole quickly quilted it for me so I was able to use my quilt in our most recent family pictures. If you could only hear their sweet giggles while we play this game. 

Now since my journey began I have since started and finished other quilts in between the Fresh quilt but it feels so nice to come full circle with this quilt. This is the quilt that started it all. Now that I have experienced the joy and satisfaction of making and FINISHING a quilt, I can never go back. It has made its mark on me and I look so forward to making more.


- Jessica