#quiltjourney

I am so excited about this project!!  A group of seven wonderful quilting friends have decided to do a Travelling Quilt Bee.  What is that, you say?  Well, each of us starts a quilt top, in their own style/colors.  The piece is then mailed to the next person on the list, who adds to it,  adhering to the general feel of the quilt but adding their own flair.  In the end, a finished quilt top is returned to you, passed from friend to friend and made with love- the ultimate Friendship Quilt!

We have named the project "Quilt Journey" and I am sharing it with some people I have come to know well and love dearly over the past few years: Angela (@cuttopieces), Kaelin (@theplaidscottie), Michelle (@ilikeorangetoo), Cara (@meamom), Cherie (@wright_cherie) and Rene (@luv2kreate). On IG we are using the hashtag #quiltjourney.  Each of us has done our first part and mailed it on, and I have also done my section of Cara's quilt.  We have a month or so with each....I am already impatient to see it develop!!

Very exciting, but also very scary.  Because this Type A girl has to relinquish CONTROL.   Yes, no Ms. Bossy Pants allowed in this project, gotta go with the flow.  And also, for the other quilts, I am going to have to try new things outside of my comfort zone to be true to the style and wishes of my friends, as we all have our own styles and tastes.  And the added pressure that they are all going to see my crappy seams and piecing, lol!

This is going to be GREAT. :)

My first job for MY quilt top was to pick a colour palate.  I had fun going through my stash, and decided on purples, pinks, navy and shots of lime green, with lots of low volume fabrics mixed in:

Next, it was time to pick a STYLE.  Hard one.  After much debate (and with the song "Let it Go" from Frozen on repeat in my head), I decided that if I was going to relinquish control, what better type of quilt to start than an improv style one??  I made some paper pieced blocks in the "x" style I used for my latest Epic Bag, and put them together in a wonky manner, irregularly spaced:

To this, I added a side border, using some of the same fabrics.

I love some of the cheeky (very ME) details....like the words in this bit of text fabric added (designed by my friend Berene @happysewlucky on Spoonflower).

Can I just say how much I am loving this so far?!?!  Ultimately, I hope everyone adds chunks of improv blocks in their own fabrics and styles and adds their signature to my quilt top!  I am sure it will be fabulous.

I think one of my FAVORITE aspects of this project is that we also send along a journal.  Inside, we can write whatever we want, really- inspiration, fabrics, colours.  What we are doing in this season, the weather. Thoughts about the person the quilt top belongs to. And so on. A little bit of a diary of the process to look back on for years to come!

So now, whatever the outcome, it is out of my hands and in the mail to its first destination, Rene in Texas!  Have fun with it, friends!  xoxo