Today is the Day!
You've heard that, "It takes a village to raise a child." It has taken a village to create this beautiful quilt over the last several months. When I saw the post Mister Domestic sent asking for submission, I questioned for a day if I would be worthy to submit an idea. Have we all done that? The post was celebrating his new line through Art Gallery called Catch and Release which hit home for me. I searched for a few days and found a pattern that I would love to make with his fabric and sent it off. So when I got the email explaining that I was going to be on this journey with these amazing people, I was so humbled.
This amazing opportunity was now at my feet and I was ready to take it and run with it. I had never done this before in my life. A Project Party, this style of quilt, this technique, custom quilting, photography, blogging... all of it was new to me but I knew that my seam ripper and I were up for the task.
Cutting fabric takes about 3-4 days, but this happy mail took about a week and a close approaching deadline before I finally cut into it. From there it was a steady process. So come take a trip down memory lane with me as we watch this quilt come to life.
Fabric: I was very very new to the concept thinking outside the box and working with light. I was a take a picture and leave it at that kind of girl.
Fussy Cutting: I had never done this in my life but I knew I wanted to highlight these darling fish from Catch and Release.
Assembly Required: Usually I like to lay the whole quilt out to make sure I have colors where I want them, but I was way too excited. I got through the first row and decided to just start sewing because the suspense of not having a block done was killing me.
Time Lapse: This idea would have been fun to do as the blocks were slowly coming into place. It would have also been entertaining watching my husband playing and conquering not 1 but 4 entire PS4 games throughout this process.
Quilting Day: The quilt is finally ready to be quilted. Little did I know that what I thought would be a week of quilting turned into 3 weeks of 8-14 hour days of aligning each of the 900 individual pieces and programming them through Qmatic. I have been long arm quilting for about a year and a half and have never done free motion quilting. Thanks to Qmatic, I have a piece that resembles a free motion appeal with computerized designs. I do hope to build my skills in free motion and one day create something like this for myself and others.
Binding: This is a love/not so love relationship for me. I love the look of hand binding, but love the ease of machine binding. I decided that this would be something I hand down to my future children so it needed to be hand bound.
Quilt Fest Quilt Show: I entered my quilt into the Utah Quilt Guild Festival one week before my release date and had so many sweet comments from friends and family. The positive comments really boost my confidence in my talents and abilities.
Photo Shoot: This was the most daunting part of the experience. A professional, I am not. Not even close. Mister Domestic gave me some guidelines, tips and tricks and away I went. My sweet husband and I went spent the day driving to different places that were full of childhood memories. When the time came to review them, I had all the heart eyes in the world.
So here we are on the big day and I want to give a shout out to my village who guided me along this journey. Thank you for encouraging me to create a piece that will be passed down from generation to generation. And to all those wondering if you can do something like this... the answer is
Yes!
Thank you to:
Mister Domestic: For creating a beautiful fabric that will hold my childhood memories for life and for giving me the opportunity to learn above and beyond from this experience.
Art Gallery: Providing wings to fly on through this incredible fabric.
Laundry Basket Quilts: Thank you for the beautiful quilt pattern Alaska to create a lifelong memory.
My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe: Guiding me to the right rulers and templates for all of my cutting needs and for celebrating the milestones with me.
Superior Threads: For the wonderful Glitter and Metallic threads to bring my quilt to life.
Nuttall's Sewing Center: Thank you Chad for your knowledge and expertise on the machines I used and Denise for the mentoring on quilting this quilt through Qmatic.
Family and Friends: The long nights and overload of pictures sent to you at all hours of the night. For the love and support and endless amount of Fiiz drinks to keep me going.
My Sweet Husband: For pushing me to chase my dreams and for singing Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Shrek with me during long/late quilting nights. I could not have done this without him by my side.
I am so grateful for my village and can't wait to see what's next around the corner. Never be afraid to take that leap because it may be the best journey yet.
Happy Quilting!
