Surprise surprise, my quilts aren’t perfect. Like none of them are. I am pretty sure that most of you if not all of you know that, but the crazy thing is that there are quilters out there that produce PERFECT quilts. Like all of the corners meet perfectly, the stitching is straight, the fabric is measured out correctly & lays flat, etc. I know that people who aren’t familiar with quilting, probably don’t see these imperfections at first glance, but I do.
I am super self-conscious when it comes to sewing and quilting. I have only been doing it a couple years and started sewing the first few times by myself not knowing what I was doing at all. Right after I had Gannon, an acquaintance of mine talked to me about how maybe I should consider taking a beginners sewing class. I know she was coming from a kind hearted place, but as a new mom who was struggling with almost every aspect of my life—hearing that about the one hobby that helped keep me sane, was the most hurtful thing I could hear in the moment. I remember right after she left, I grabbed all of my sewing things that were strewn about on my kitchen table and I put it all up. I cried the rest of the day and told my husband I wasn’t going to sew anymore. I couldn’t stand the thought of people talking about how I wasn’t good at this and critiquing a hobby I enjoyed. Let me be clear—I never said I was good at sewing. I just love doing it! So I let my emotions settle and a few days later picked up right where I left off.
I started sewing because of my grandma. My grandma has always been one to give thoughtful handmade gifts. She has 5 kids, 17 grandkids, and 15 great grandkids but every Christmas she makes us all handmade gifts and every birthday she sends us a card (and our spouses too!) She made me and Jeremyah a quilt as our wedding gift and I was so jealous that I couldn’t make one that I decided to look into it. (Pictured below is the quilt my grandma made for us)
In high school, I was really into painting. Like REALLY into painting. I lovedddd art class & my art teacher (shoutout to BDub). I wasn’t the most talented or gifted at painting in my class. It didn’t come natural at all, but I loved creating & getting lost in a painting. Pretty sure if you were friends with me in high school or my early college years, you probably got a painting from me at some point. I just loved to paint! But the longer I painted gifts for people, I realized I couldn’t keep gifting paintings. So I started to think of other creative outlets or things I could create to give as gifts and always came back to blankets/quilts!
Jeremyah got me my first sewing machine for Christmas and I took it over to my parents house to have my mom show me what to do. A sewing machine looks super scary and I don’t learn well by reading directions, so I needed my mom. That afternoon she helped me make my first little project! An ornament :) I still have it and yes it goes on my Christmas tree lol.
I am not a patient person and sometimes that can show in my quilts. So far this year I have made 14 quilts—which is quite a bit! Sewing is my favorite thing ever so when I get time to do it, I rush everything. I only have limited amounts of time I can spend sewing these days so I don’t miss out on family time with my husband and our one year old. When you rush something like a quilt, you tend to have errors.. sometimes I skip ironing my fabric, sometimes I don’t use enough pins, sometimes I don’t change my thread color.. I mean the list goes on and on. Typically rushing these little tasks don’t really cause any issue. But when they do, they do big time.
I am telling you all this because I just recently finished a baby quilt. And its got some areas on it where there are a few boo-boos. One of my friends told me one time that if you mess up something, you just call it rustic. So, I made a very ‘rustic’ looking baby quilt :) I could point out all of the imperfections on each quilt that I have made but over the course of learning to sew, I have actually started to love the tiny imperfections. I just recently made a quilt for my guest bedroom. It is one of my favorites. I didn’t have a pattern, I just winged the entire thing—which I am sure makes some people cringe (especially all of the judgy quilters that are reading this.. I see you :)) And as I was finishing the quilt up & trimming the loose strings, I noticed that there were a few pieces of fabric that I accidentally sewed on the wrong side of the fabric. It was so light of a fabric, that I really didn’t notice until I started to get up close and personal with it. After I noticed that, I also found 2 spots where I didn’t catch the seam. So I had 2 tiny little holes I had to hand stitch back together. For whatever reason, when I found these ‘mistakes’—it made me love the quilt even more. It felt more homey & quirky! And the more I thought about it, it reminded me of how God loves us even though we are flawed and imperfect. My quilts aren’t perfect.. but I promise they are cozy & made with love! I think that’s where I am at in life these days.. I am not perfect, but I promise to be genuine and do my best. Being genuine is just something I need in my life these days. Whether it’s being genuine with myself and how I am doing mentally or having genuine people around me, it is something I just have strived to be and have. I need people and friends that say what they mean and mean what they say more than ever. I made a promise to myself that during pregnancy and being a mom, I would be open and honest with how I was feeling and handling things. There are some days I literally don’t accomplish anything besides keeping Gannon alive-which is my main job, so I’d say I am doing pretty good even on my worst days :)
So after my long winded ramble, I wanted to share 2 quilts I have recently finished. They aren’t perfect. And if they aren’t purchased by Thursday morning, they are going into my ‘donate to Boone Hospital NICU pile.’ Which honestly is my new favorite thing to do. Without further ado, below I have an Animals & ABC’s quilt with a blue cotton backing & an ABC quilt with a mauve backing. They are listed for $65 each plus shipping. If you live locally, I can deliver :) If they aren’t purchased by Thursday morning, I will be donating them to the hospital! From now on, I will randomly list baby quilts to be purchased and if they aren’t, they will be donated.
