Journal Notes

I was gifted a bunch of fabric from a family friend whose quilter mother has passed away. I was so excited to hear that she was sending me a package, but couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and a little disappointed when I received the box. She had sent me layer cakes, a quilt kit and random sized pieces that consisted mostly of batiks and Kaffe Fassett. The bold colors and busy prints took me by surprise. After staring at my new fabrics for an eternity wondering what to do with them, I remembered a tidbit I had heard from another quilter: if you don't like a fabric, you probably haven't cut it small enough yet. I decided Fly Away was a perfect choice. This quilt challenged me in several ways: 1. Using fabric that is way out of my normal aesthetic and comfort zone 2. Franken-batting - a pain to make for me, but so satisfying to use a bunch of batting scraps 3. Making a backing completely out of scraps and the random yardage cuts I had received; I did not want to buy a single piece of fabric for this project! 4. Matchstick quilting on my domestic machine - inspired by Suzy's cover quilt for Fly Away There were many times I was tempted to throw in the towel because I thought it was ugly, or because it just wasn't ME. And the quilting took ages (and a lot of quilt wrestling) to complete. But now seeing the finished product, I am so happy I stuck with this project to the end. I really do find that I like it now, and can appreciate the uniqueness of it.