The Julia Quilt

In response to a recent prompt from Zak Foster on The Quilty Nook about cross-pollinating other interests with our quiltmaking , I wrote down a bunch of things that I know about/have skills in/have learned about, and the one clear thing that I kept writing and writing about was unschooling - living and learning consensually and collaboratively with my kids (and family and community and and and…the more I learn/unlearn, it just keeps growing bigger and bigger!)

So I asked myself, what would it look like to apply this knowledge/these lessons to my quiltmaking process? And this is what came up for me: listening, collaborating with the materials, being open to change and growth, maybe having a loose plan or idea but not something rigidly formed or immutable, being responsive and flowing to what emerges from the process

I think I already apply a fair amount of these ideas and principles in my creative practice, but it was very interesting to deliberately experiment and explore with them.

I spent some quiet moments at my sewing table, and the first thing that popped out at me were these three small bags of solid-colored fabric scraps that were the last item I bought from my local quilt shop before the owner retired. There's a new owner now, which is so great! But I became a quilter in the hands of the former owner and her team, they answered so many of my questions, we developed meaningful connection, and I'm really sad about things changing. So I hadn't been sure what to do with those solid scraps (and part of me thought maybe they "should" be for my students/my classes) and taking that quiet time it became clear they would be part of a special project.

The question in the back of my head that was repeating on a low hum was "what does a Julia quilt look like?" And at first, I thought - well I can't use these colors because someone else picked them so they aren't truly selected by me. Then I was like - "Julia. You literally picked these colors out of 20-30 scrap bag options - they sang to you!! And they can be your colors!!!"

I just sat there petting the fabric for a while. Then I wrote for a bit, asking myself what shape(s) I wanted to make in the quilt. And before long, I found myself drawing gentle curves that felt like me:

Originally I was imagining something with many small blocks, and I did a test block to try it out. It was awful!! It felt very finicky, I couldn't get the fabric to line up right, and didn't even properly finish the first seam:

It isn't that I don't have the technical proficiency to sew curves, it was just that this particular size and angle of curve was NOT the right fit for The Julia Quilt. I wanted something flowing and free-feeling, something with responsive and flowing energy, not something I needed to take time to be precise about or glue (which felt like the direction I might need to head to piece blocks like this.

Then another voice echoed: go bigger, Julia!

And all of a sudden, the size and scale of the blocks just flowed and made so much sense. Each cut of fabric was roughly the same size (a quarter yard maybe? I didn't measure) and I quickly subcut and intuitively matched colors together and free-hand cut the curves and pieced pieced pieced!!! I had all the blocks pieced in less than 2 days.

So this is the current state of The Julia Quilt top (smashed on top of my HST WIPs haha) - I originally had 12 blocks, but while I was planning the layout it wasn't fitting/flowing quite right, and I stepped away from the piece for a period of time (a few hours?) and three of the blocks had fallen off the wall and I was like THATS IT!!!! Strike those blocks! Boom!! Which felt like another flowy collaboration with the materials and the universe.

Really enjoying the Wonder Year prompts and I'm excited to have a Julia Quilt - maybe "Julia The First"? Who knows, there may be more :) I finished piecing the backing today, so ready to baste and I already have an idea of how I want to quilt it and the thread(s) I want to use.