A Quilt That Looks Like Me

Today is the day. On Facebook you go, Blog!

Here is my latest and greatest to get you newbs to think about sticking around or coming back.

Photo and Patchwork by E. Henning.
Pattern by Vonda Davis (Quilty 2016).

Photo and Patchwork by E. Henning.
Pattern by Vonda Davis (Quilt 2016).

In case you need a little introductory course in why quilts matter (and in this case, why they matter to me), this essay I wrote will maybe help. I entered it in a contest at the end of March. It didn't win. But that's okay.

My essay is personal. It is gushy. It seems like the kind of thing I would never, ever post on Facebook to encourage other people to read.

This crazy idea is Elizabeth Gilbert's fault. Have you read Big Magic?? GO READ IT RIGHT NOW. I'm going to review it on my blog soon. But it's a book for everyone. It's a book about Creativity with a capital C and it is seriously amazing. Seriously. It just might make you share your blog on Facebook with everyone you know. It can do crazy things like that...

Okay, wait! Maybe read this essay first before you dive into some magic with Liz.

Have at it, Reader. Enjoy.

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This sixth quilt of mine is different. I fully believe in the giving of quilts and have found such unbridled pleasure in watching my girlfriends open boxes with handmade magic inside. I would never trade those countless hours of making for them. But this quilt will not be wrapped, gifted, or given. This one is for me.

I’ve named it “Mine” for now because that is the best way to describe how it feels. It’s made of bright, saturated rich colors that I like-- teals, reds, mustard yellow, and navy. Some blocks look like crazy joy, like happy nonsense, and others look like a quiet kind of sadness. This concept and idea is kindly borrowed from the one and only Mary Fons-- I made a quilt that looks like me.

I was initially looking for a way to burn through some beloved prints in my fabric stash. I wanted to include a large variety of designs and colors, while still maintaining a sense of structure to the quilt. A traditional nine-patch block was the answer. The pattern is from Quilty’s Fall 2016 Scrappy Issue and was originally crafted by Vonda Davis. Nine-patch blocks sit beside solid squares that help to anchor the quilt. I loved that the nine-patch blocks took a spin on their heads by being set within the quilt diagonally to create a different look. It was quirky but classic and maybe a little like me, I’d like to think.

Something unexpected happened to me while making Mine. I was going through a rough time to tell the truth-- feeling overwhelmed with the daily grind, handling a stupid bout of ugly anxiety, fighting those winter blues. In the process of sewing my 70 nine-patch blocks, I eventually experienced meditation through patchwork. Coming home after a shitty day, I would plop at my machine. That hum on my old-school Singer would drown out all the annoying things that happened. After sewing square to square to square, row to row to row, I would feel better.

I started Mine after Christmas, when the dreary days of January were just starting to gnaw at me. While cutting and sewing and pressing, I got this hammock idea. My husband and I have a great yard with big, old trees. I started visualizing myself in a hammock with this quilt (that wasn’t and isn’t yet a quilt). The meditative process of sewing and this daydream helped me dig my way out of a hard couple months.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. My quilt has a lot left to go. I spent much of this morning assembling blocks to form the top corner. I haven’t picked out binding but got real obsessed with this solid pink fabric that makes me giddy just thinking about it. This quilt made me realize that creativity can change things. It inspired me to start a blog and take another quilting class. It made me realize that even the ugly days contain beauty when set in the context of my life as a whole, when looking at the entire quilt and not just that one dark, flawed block.

This April or May, I will swing in that hammock with Mine and a good novel and I will smile in the sun.

I did it. And I will keep doing it-- keep quilting-- because this making is making me.