People ask me, “How long does it take to make a quilt”? I usually respond with, it depends. This is true, and can be broken down methodically to size, number of pieces, complexity, etc. When I am making a quilt just for me, there is no deadline. The answer is simply “as long as it takes”. I wish I could use that answer at work! When I quilt for fun, I don’t rush. I don’t ever give up. I will work on it off and on as I feel like it. No deadlines. No pressure (though sometimes I get friendly encouragement from my quilty besties).
Eight years ago, around September 17th, my dear friend Kayla and I hosted our first quilting retreat together. At that retreat, she gifted me a book, 100 Modern Blocks by Tula Pink. My kiddos were in elementary school and just kicked off a new school year. It was the same year I fell in love with laser machines and set my eyes on eventually owning one. It was a hoot to look for images for this post. I saw all the fun things my family and I have done while I slowly rolled this colorful quilt. I’m not sure how it worked out, but Kayla also purchased the book and I think she suggested that we work on it together. (Spoiler, yes, this means there is another one coming from her soon!).
First the pattern. Then the fabric. What does one choose for a sampler quilt with 100 different blocks? Something about the Kinetic line by Windham fabrics caught my eye, so that is where I started. I added coordinating solids to a fat quarter bundle.
I completed the first block on Sept 30, 2017. But the second block didn’t get completed until October 2017. Dark times.
Somewhere along the way, I knew I needed more fabric. I was in love with Kayla’s fabrics. I decided I needed to supplement mine with some Tula Pink, All Stars. This quilt is the first and only quilt I have used her line of fabrics in. They were so much fun! If you look closely at the finished quilt, you will see whimsical animals and bohemian designs. These are mixed with the kinetic shapes of the more geometric fabrics. Friends who saw me working on it would trade me pieces to supplement. One of my favorites random adds was the addition of a unicorn and the Loch Ness monster. (Thanks Chris!)
In the last 2 years, I went to Arkansas to visit Kayla. We quilted together. We also swapped fabrics from our collections. (Thanks Kayla!) We will each have some of the same fabrics in our quilts. Instant memories. The colors in the Tula lines mixed amazingly well with the Windham Kinetic line. This combination allowed me to expand the color range of the blocks. I kept track of how many blocks I had in each color family and tried to balance the quantity from each. It is far too easy when stitching samplers to navigate to your favorite colors all the time! Around September 2024, I finally finished all of the blocks, and had prepped my background for piecing. Random just didn’t work for me. I needed order. My inspiration for the layout started with the idea of a traditional log cabin. The heart (traditionally red) would be at the center. I then let the colors radiate outward in general wavelength order. Chromatic order to the rescue.
Somewhere in between the first four blocks, a career change, a “pandemic”, master’s work, a backyard construction project, a senior graduation, some fantastic experiences with my family and friends, countless trips to my favorite quilt shops, and two lasers later, I have a finished quilt. I think this one will get a label saying “Enjoy the Ride”.
The final layout was called “City Planner” and the longarm quilt design I chose was “Grid Lock”. Fitting for an 8 year journey! I chalk it up to a “block of the month”. It didn’t really seem that long. Time flies. Happy Quilting.
