I launched this Fearless with Fabric blog with the goal of being fearless . . . fearless about fabric and design choices, fearless about breaking “the rules” of quilting. I also had the goal of helping others be fearless. But every since I launched this new blog, I haven’t been very fearless. Too many deadlines, too much going on and worst of all . . . fear.
Being real isn’t easy. What if people don’t like what you create? What if they don’t like what you have to say?
But then Coming Unwound happened and it’s time to tell that story and get serious about Fearless with Fabric.
2017 was a crazy year. A wedding, a graduation, new demands at work, juggling my design work.
Throughout most of the year, I felt I was really an apprentice juggler–keeping lots of balls half-way in the air, but always on the verge of dropping one.
Ever since I entered a quilt in QuiltCon and had it accepted, I’ve enjoyed the process of designing a quilt that says something. Last fall, with the submission deadlines drawing near for many of the national contests, I just didn’t feel inspired. I didn’t like anything I drew in my trusted Electric Quilt program.
And then, one day as I was scrolling through the library of traditional quilt blocks, I saw the Spool block and started wondering “what if”.
What if the threads appeared to be coming off the spool, what if the fabrics reflected some transparency, what if the block was so B-I-G that a single block made up the whole quilt?
All of those thoughts came together and I realized it was because the quilt reflected how I feel like I’m coming unwound most of the time these days. Finding snippets of time to work with fabric, with needle, with thread, however, almost always eases the stress.
Blending fabrics from my A Shout, a whisper, a Text and Dandy Days lines along with a Kaffe print, Coming Unwound combines enlarged scale, negative space, color theory & transparency for a modern take on a traditional spool block. It captures my feeling that the threads of my life are unspooling in multiple directions.
I was humbled when the quilt was selected for the March/April 2018 issue of Modern Patchwork.
Then, a few weeks later, I received news I didn’t expect–Coming Unwound had been accepted to the AQS show in Paducah, KY. Understand that before I ever started designing my own quilts, ever owned a store, ever designed my own fabric, I used to attend the Paducah show with friends. I’d admire all the quilts but never even considered entering one of my own quilts so I never really dreamed that I would someday have a quilt hanging there made primarily from fabrics I had designed.
I actually entered three quilts in the AQS show, hoping one might be deemed worthy. I am still totally blown away that all 3 of my entries were accepted. More on them later.
For now, here it is. . . me beside Coming Unwound.
And here are some better pictures of the quilt with a shoutout to Sarabeth Rebe for working her quilting magic here.
If this quilt speaks to you and you’d like to make your own quilt, I have kits available.
And now that I’ve told my story, do you want to join me in being Fearless?
Congratulations on having Coming Unwound featured in Modern Patchwork and hanging at Paducah, Sarah! Thank you for the back story on the design, and I hope that you might start to feel like your efforts are slowly weaving and building your textile story instead of feeling unwound.
fantastic news that all 3 quilt made the cut. Coming unwound is beautiful. Our life’s these days always seem to have an element of trying to juggle everything as we try and get things done, I look forward to see more from you here.