I have a confession to make. I have a big love, a big secret love, that I have never talked about here on the blog
And that love is quilting.
If you’ve been following me on Instagram or if we’re Facebook friends, this will come as no surprise to you, but for some reason, I have not talked about it on here.
While living in El Paso, I joined a sewing and quilting group, Blissful Stitchers. Mostly made up of military spouses, they were my sanity savers during those long four years.
The funny thing is when I first joined I did not know how to sew. I didn’t even know how to thread a sewing machine.
Thankfully, one of the ladies, Maridee, offered free classes. All she asked was to come ready to learn, and to always, always be on time.
My first quilt was a baby quilt for Joey. From there I did various seasonal table runners, and then a baby quilt for Ben. My last quilt before leaving El Paso was a Stack N Whack Christmas quilt. I finished the top and a fellow Stitcher, Kathy, quilted it for me.
During my time with Maridee, and the rest of the Stitchers lady I came to see quilting in a whole new light and fell in love it. I discovered quilting isn’t just for old ladies, and there is a lot more than just flowery curtain-like prints.
So when 2018 got started, and I set off into finding and choosing joy in my life, I knew quilting would be a big part of it.
Which brings us to today, and my Valentine’s Day quilt. Because, yes, I’m one of those crazy people that really kind loves this non-holiday holiday and I decorate for it. Don’t @ me.
The Big Love Quilt was my first quilt in a year and my first big quilt I did all the way through – piecing, basting, quilting, binding. I went with a simple pattern I found online for free called “Big Love”, and straight line / in the ditch quilting. It was a good quilt to get my feet wet before jumping aaaaall the in with more complex patterns.
And even though it was an easy pattern, I still found myself ripping seams because I messed up some of the piecing and Lordy do I dislike binding. Hands down my least favorite part of the whole process.
All in all, I love the way this beauty turned out and I’m so, so proud of it. I’m hoping to add a pocket to the back so we can hang it next year because I want to look at it all day, every day.
I love seeing your quilts, I can’t sew to save my life, but I want to learn!
Aw thank you! You should learn! It’s so much watching it all come together.
I always heard such amazing things about Blissful Stitchers! I would love to learn how to quilt, it just seems like such a relaxing and fun thing to do.
They are an AMAZING group of ladies! They were all helping me when the movers came and Lance was still TDY. They’re honestly THE reason I’d go back to Bliss haha.
Your quilt looks absolutely fantastic! Isn’t it such an amazing feeling to see the fruit of pursuing joy through your hands? Sewing is such a great hobby. 🙂
Thank you Brittany! It is! I love watching it all come together. When we’re back in WA, we’ll have to have sewing get togethers ❤️
I love it! It came out so pretty!! And I had no idea, up until recently when I saw the unicorn!
Thank you Alex! Haha I’ve always been a little afraid to share because I’m still so new to it and so many people see it as a grandma thing to do but I’m embracing my inner 80 year old (let’s face it, I’m a grandma at heart with reading and quilting as my hobbies 🤣)
Aaah I love this! I’m so impressed. I love that more bloggers are feeling empowered to share their non-niche hobbies on their blogs more. Please keep us updated with your projects–they’re beautiful!
Fran – this is freaking amazing! I’m so glad that you shared this. I’m always so in awe of people who can quilt, because I have tried numerous times and the only ones I’ve been successful with are “raggy quilts” where the edges are pretty fail-proof. Given your talent, I am not shocked you are so good at this!!
I love quilting. I just made 2 small ones for my brother’s baby and I was like “man, why haven’t I done this in so long??”