Memory

It's almost impossible for me to believe that I sewed my first quilt just a year ago this month. God bless my mother for buying a new sewing machine when her old one wasn't working right. After nearly two years spent flitting from one hobby to the next, trying desperately to find my niche, sewing turned out to be the one I was waiting for. I really do believe that it saved my sanity as a stay-at-home mom. Though I've spent the last year finding both my footing and my balance, I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to create beauty every day with my own two hands.

When I started working on my quilt for the Scrappy Stash Sew Along that Jennifer was hosting at Ellison Lane Quilts, I had no idea that it would be such a moving experience for me. I've been piling up scraps for a year now, trying to decide how best to use them, and these scrappy log cabin blocks could not have been a better fit.

Putting these blocks together was a joy. It was like reliving an entire year of happy sewing memories in one quilt, and because of that, I decided to call this project "Memory."

Most of you know how much I love text fabrics. It was so fun to use all my favorite text prints as a background for the quartets of colored blocks. I decided to also use my current favorite quilting method: intermittent wavy stitching in vertical lines down the quilt top.

I backed the quilt in a selection of prints from my stash, matching the color order on the back with that of the blocks on the front. I love the back almost as much as I do the quilt top...

The quilt is bound in a grey Posie print from Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite designers.

As a bonus, I used some of the selvages I've been saving all year to make a quick pillow cover to go along with the quilt on our bed. The border is a botanical text print -- from Timeless Treasures, I believe -- which I absolutely love, and the cover is backed in the dark blue print with red and white flowers (third from the bottom row of selvages). I used the same wavy quilting as I did on the bed quilt, but this time I went horizontally.

As you can see, the pillow matches the decor in our bedroom. Believe it or not, the pictures on the wall are actually prints we ordered from Costco's photo department. My husband stained some inexpensive frames to go along with them, and I love the way they look above the antique dresser and chair we have in our room, both passed down from my side of the family.

I've had many projects this year that have been among my favorites, but this quilt is definitely at the top of the list. I'm going to treasure this one always.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday, the Scrappy Stash Sew Along, and Finish It Up Friday.