When I received the new fabric line from Poppie Cotton, designed by Elea Lutz, so many emotions went through my mind. The first thought is not related to this fabric line at all, so I'll tell you about that in a minute. But my second thought was that this fabric was so unbelievably precious, I knew that I would be making a quilt. Its a strange thing how fabric speaks... I'm not the only sewist that says this same thing. I even had a quick vision in my head of old fashioned and simple quilt. But we'll get to that in a minute.
Let me tell you about the first thought that went through my mind upon seeing Elea's new fabric line. Years ago, six to be exact, I taught a summer quilting camp for children. I reached out to a few of my favorite fabric designers to see if they would be interested in supplying fabric for the class. Elea was one of the designers that I reached out to. I didn't hear back from her and actually kind of forgot. Then one day I got a response from her that was full of apologies that she had missed my email. Was it too late to send fabric? She said something to me that I will never forget (and I can't believe I didn't save the email). She said something to this effect "I know how hard it is to have the courage to reach out to someone with a request and then how discouraging it is when they don't even respond". I was just blown away by her kindness. A few days later we received a box in the mail with fabric scraps from all her lines; some big scraps, some little. The littlest girl in my sewing camp (who happened to be my littlest grand-daughter) was only five at the time. She latched onto that fabric and made her first quilt! So basically for six years, Elea feels like she could be my best friend! Smile!
Rosetta, with her first (and still very treasured) quilt - 2017
And that's just one of the stories I have to tell you today! I received the fabric in September of last year and I can't tell you how many hours I spent looking the collection over carefully. Not being able to pick out one favorite print (a game I like to play with fabric bundles!). Every single fabric in this line is my favorite thing. I folded them up in November and put them in a place of honor on my counter with upcoming projects and kept waiting for the perfect quilt pattern to come to my mind.
In December, my mother from New Mexico came to stay for a few months. She's 86 years old and although she doesn't really sew or quilt anymore, she has done so for her entire life. So I had the idea that she needed to make a simple quilt while she was here. I knew she would love sewing on my little Featherweight machine and that it would help her with the grief of losing my Dad 6 months ago. So.... I told her to go up to my sewing studio and choose the fabric and we'd make a four patch quilt. Little did I know that the fabric she would choose was My Favorite Things! She proudly said, "I want to make a quilt with this. It's gorgeous and its all my favorite things". I was getting ready to tell her that the fabric was not even out to the public yet, was very special to me, and that I had plans for a quilt... but then very quickly I said, "Mom... this is perfect. We'll make it together". So that is how my lovely four patch quilt began!
I did the cutting, Mom and I both determined the layout of each block and she sewed EVERY SINGLE four patch block of the quilt. She and the Featherweight were fast friends for days, sewing happily. The little blocks weren't perfect but I decided that imperfections in a quilt are okay - especially when sewn by your elderly mother!
As I laid all the blocks on the floor to begin piecing it, I determined that it would look extra special placed on point. This seems like a super simple thing to do but it's actually kind of tricky. (If you want a great tutorial on sewing together a four patch on point, this blog post is my favorite.)
When it came to choosing the backing fabric, of course I chose a vintage sheet. Most of my quilter friends know that I almost always choose a vintage sheet for my quilt backings. They are soft, lovely, and so easy to quilt through. I happened to have one that matched this fabric PERFECTLY. The colors were spot on and matched the yellow in the collection that I was using for the binding. It's like it was meant to be!
Once the quilt was all "sandwiched" together, I knew it had to be hand quilted. My mother really isn't a fan of "big stitch" quilting and if her arthritic hands had been up to it, we would have quilted it together with the teeny tiny old fashioned quilting stitches. Instead I did the big stitch quilting using Perle Cotton 8 floss and of course I love it! I saved my quilting for the evenings when my husband was playing his banjo, and my mom and I were sitting together in the living room! I will treasure the hours spent under this quilt as I stitched my "big" quilting stitches, visiting with Mom, listening to the banjo in the background. An absolute treasure of time.
This quilt is the most gorgeous, simple quilt. My favorite quilts are always simple ones and this pattern showcased this lovely fabric to perfection.
I'm so thankful I had the privilege of sewing with this fabric; it warmed my heart and made me happy every single stitch! Honestly, it's not very often that I keep a quilt I make... most of the time I gift them. But this quilt has a permanent spot in my home and my heart.
Thank you Elea and Poppie Cotton. You make my heart sing.
Before I sign off, I just want to tell you that there are other sewists that are making some of the most gorgeous things with My Favorite Things fabric. Below is a list of them and be sure to follow along this fabric tour for amazing inspiration.
Monday March 6 | www.elealutzdesign.com |
Wednesday March 8 | |
Friday March 10 | |
Monday March 13 | |
Wednesday March 15 | |
Friday March 17 | |
Monday March 20 | |
Wednesday March 22 | |
Friday March 24 | |
Monday March 27 | |
Wednesday March 29 | |
Friday March 31 |
Dori... this post is as beautiful as the quilt. Thank you for sharing the story. It makes my heart swell!
ReplyDelete