The story behind the blocks….

For me there’s always a reason.  A reason for choosing a color, a reason for cutting beautiful pieces of fabrics to only have to stitch them back again, A reason for wanting to make a quilt, every quilt.

In February, I went through a tough time. I’m not sure if it was the tough winter, my kids continuing to grow and feeling like I wasn’t, or maybe for a short period of time I was simply sad.  I attempted to doctor myself the best I could.  I studied my Bible – My source of strength and faith, I leaned on Don.  I tried not to lean on my kids.  But being a close family and even though we are scattered dots on a map, the day of intervention came.

Chelsey said it.

“Mom, you have to come out of the basement.  You have to come out of your sewing room and start living again.”

I had always considered my sewing room a haven, not a hide out.  So without the ‘Yeah, but’s”… I thought about it and regrouped. Maybe she had a point.  I wasn’t going to give up my quilting or my sewing room, but I needed a new perspective.

I started with extra snowshoe runs….I needed to work out the blues—literally.

I started with cleaning the corner cove of the basement saved for quilting and that included a bulletin board that held, patterns, ideas, envelopes from quilters, threads, needles etc.   After a trip to get copies of photos from my journal, and a half an hour on Pinterest--the end result was this:

I had a free pattern picked up from a quilt shop that long ago closed its doors, but was memorable enough not to be forgotten.  Not an entire quilt, no samples sitting beside it…..just a simple tulip block with one page of directions. 

I knew I needed flowers and after stripping wallpaper from my kitchen, I knew I wanted a shot at a color I had never used before – purple. 

After about a three week break – and a new attitude I ventured back to the sewing room and started making blocks. I've doodling out different layouts, even kicked around adding an extra color.

I’ve got flowers, real flowers in my yard right now – But I'm piecing this quilt for that reminder when I do need flowers and can’t have them.