Coming Home

I wanted to share with you a unique quilt that is probably something you have never seen me create. I have a new collection of fabric coming out with Free Spirit in May, called Findings. Free Spirit is doing a quilt challenge, Fortunate Findings, where they are asking quilters to tell their story through quilt making using my collection from last year, Grace, with Findings. I am very excited about this challenge and decided I was going to make a quilt.

I created a piece that reflects my journey over the past four years, a period during which I rediscovered my creativity, embraced self-love, found my grounding, and experienced both the good and bad that comes with it.

I have been uncovering these aspects of myself through painting. I paint large canvases over and over again, layering one painting on top of another, expressing my emotions in the moment, and connecting to my body through the movement of painting.

I had an idea of how I wanted to tell my story with fabric, especially this fabric that has been a huge part of my journey. I decided I wanted to make something that was in the same vein as my painting— not a pattern, but an expression of emotions. To me, that had to be improvisational.

I love freeform piecing and have had great influences in my life in this technique. My mom, of course, is a master at improv. Years ago, in my 20s, we brought Ruth McDowell to the shop for a five-day workshop. I took this workshop and learned so many techniques. When I started thinking about this quilt, I remembered that workshop and the technique of using paper for your templates.

I put up some butcher paper, the size I wanted the quilt to be, and started drawing on the paper, just feeling my journey over the past few years and my transformation into who I am now. I had no expectations. I just connected to my heart, my emotions, and my body, giving my mind a rest on the couch. Once this part was done, I stood back and saw what had come out of me. As I went back in and cleaned up the lines, the essence of the quilt started to form.

On the top left of the quilt, the lines came into an area of chaos and broken bits. The veins of heartache and grief circled around and back into themselves. This was cradled by these larger curves underneath. The design started taking life.

As the lines solidified, I took a Sharpie and made them permanent— at least for the time being, as art in this process is still developing, and things always change.

This is the phase where my design and artist hat comes off, and the engineering hat comes on. To use my mom’s words on the creative process of designing a one-of-a-kind, improvisational quilt: My engineering side started seeing where I needed to break up the design into manageable sections to sew.

I created registration marks across every seam so that when the paper was cut up into templates and the fabric was marked, I would know exactly where to pin. There are a lot of curves in this piece, and to make it all fit together, I would need to be accurate from the very beginning.

The next phase of the design process was fabric placement. I had two collections to work with, over 20 different SKUs. I cut small pieces of fabric and started pinning up the ones I knew. And then, I let myself be okay with not knowing everything. It was time to cut the paper and start cutting and marking fabric. I cut one section of the paper at a time to stay organized. The fabric was cut with a seam allowance and marked with registration marks; this was the first step to accuracy for this quilt to actually come together.

Once one section was cut, I would pin at every mark on the fabric and stitch. Because I was diligent about being accurate, the sewing was a breeze. Slowly, each section came together, and I found myself with one seam to go— inserting the center.

There’s this moment, about halfway in, where I thought, "So, is this process a reference to life?" This experiment of mine, this opportunity to be extremely present in the moment, and how it can bring joy and satisfaction in a way that isn’t there when you’re thinking about the completed piece or what you're going to do tomorrow. It was like a light bulb went off. By the time you get to the end, the journey of taking an idea, stepping out of your comfort zone, but knowing you are smart and talented enough to figure it out, then diving in and taking each step of the way— whatever comes up: decisions, successes, "oops" moments. You get to the end, and there’s this satisfaction and celebration in the fact that taking creative risks can lead to a tremendous reward beyond the final piece of it. It changed me as a person and gave me the confidence and desire to try something new and expand my creative wheelhouse. And that’s exciting!

I have to say, I was slightly intimidated but incredibly excited to see it all come together. I knew that I had been accurate in all the other piecing, so there was no reason this wouldn’t fit. I ended up having to pin it twice, but once it was set, the seaming was magical, and everything fit. There was a celebratory dance party after pressing and putting it up on the design wall.

I wanted to add some stitching to the top before I quilted it. I love the intimacy of hand-stitching. It is a slow, meditative, in-the-moment practice that connects me to my work. This quilt needed this time. I wanted to add some light to the indigo vein that ran through the quilt—a nod to the light that is in the darkest of days, the spark that guided me through, allowing me to accept all the parts of me: all the grief and sadness, the blessings and joy on the journey.

I love machine quilting and how it can create movement, texture, and complete the story of a quilt. It is yet another part of the intimacy of art quilts— you connect to your design and continue the story. I chose not to square up the piece but to keep the integrity of the shape and do a facing on the back. I truly love how this quilt turned out, and I am inspired to create more art quilts in this fashion.

Thank you for coming along on the journey.

To see some of my realtime design process watch this video.

For more information about the Fortunate Findings Challenge, click here.