Mother

“I am my Mother’s garden. I am her legacy. And I hope today she feels the love reflected back from me”

It's almost Valentine's day and the theme at Project Quilting is "Put a heart on it." I wanted to do something around the theme of love but not about romantic love. I thought about our families and the love that is instilled in us when we are children. And that love we carry with us into the friendships we forge and the families we create. I thought about my mom who is the glue in our family. This quilt is dedicated to her - thank you mom for always finding time to listen to me talk about random things, for giving me confidence and for being a friend.

For the design of this quilt, I was inspired by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession; I heard her speak at Bernina Connection in Phoenix and immediately fell in love with her style. She is fearless in her use of fabrics, colors and patterns. I hope one day I can be so bold with my art. 

In her book, Adding Layers, she uses a Madonna print in such a cool way; so when I saw a similar print from Alexander Henry, I bought it for my stash.

When Project Quilting announced its latest challenge, "Put a heart on it,” I knew what I could make. I strip pieced several Marcia Derse fabrics I had in my stash; and used my wedge ruler to cut out the "Lady" from the large print fabric. I alternated them to create movement just as Kathy did in her quilt.

The only thing I didn't plan on was how big the circle was going to get! It got really big because I chose to use the large portion of the wedge to get as much of the lady as I could. Reminder for next time!

And then I couldn’t pick a background. I was leaning towards something wild just to make it extra interesting. Like this one:

My friend Janet, at Mulqueens Sewing Center , is always my fabric choice savior. She helped me pick out the star fabric from Moda. And I loved it - it’s interesting without being crazy!

Here is the back which Janet also helped me find!

And here is the full look! I am happy with it!!