The main reason I started blogging was to document my quilting
efforts, so that I could remind myself of what I had finished and inspire
myself to greater creativity and productivity. I have come to enjoy blogging
for its own sake, though, and found that I wanted something tangible to remember my quilts
by. I love using leftovers from a finished quilt in a new quilt, but wanted one
quilt to represent all the quilts I finished in 2011. The first two quilts I
finished last year used the Yellow Brick Road pattern, which resulted in very
little “waste.” Most of the scraps were less than 2” wide, so I decided to make
postage stamp blocks out of 1.5” squares. The sashing, backing and binding are
also made out of scraps. The last block is a big scrap of Lizzy House’s Pearl
Bracelet fabric, embroidered with the year and my initials in my own
handwriting.
2011 was a challenging year for me. In fact, it was one of the most difficult
periods in my relatively short life. Still, I managed to finish nine quilts, thanks
to this blog, the online quilting community and my loving
and supportive family. I hung this quilt on a wall of my sewing nook and every time I look at
it, I think of the people that I made those quilts for: two little babies who
are now walking, a dear friend, my husband’s grandma (twice), my grandma, my
mother-in-law, my mother and my sweet girl. Sometimes, I look at this quilt and think of
how much I accomplished during a difficult time, and it gives me hope that I
will accomplish even more in the future.
Name: 2011 Memory Quilt
Pattern: Postage Stamp blocks
Fabric: Scraps from projects finished
in 2011
Started: September 2011
Finished: March 2012
