Story Quilt

follow the inspiration, not the tightly-held plan

I haven’t made anything like this before. I love it so much. It became something magical that I hadn’t envisioned. This one taught me a lot about the tender dance with inspiration - when to keep going, when to give up, how to get moving again when you feel stuck. For me, the answer this time was a full fabric reorg / purge of the stash I’ve built up over the past 5 years! The clearing out, making room, and seeing what called to me changed the course of this whole quilt! That, and giving myself the permission to change course. Follow the inspiration, not the tightly-held original plan.

This always seems to surprise people, but sewing a quilt top can be a pretty fast process for me. It’s part of how my inspiration works - I like to stay in a swift and spontaneous flow, where I can tell what feels fun and right. If it’s starts to feel tortured or boring or overworked, I’m not interested. It’s why I don’t make patterned quilts, although I think they are gorgeous - but the process feels tedious and boring for me. I thought this whole quilt would be House Squares, but I got bored after 3 and it felt forced! And that was the loosest of “patterns,” which I made up myself! So I let myself be re-inspired, and I love what happened.

I’m calling this the Story Quilt but there’s not really an intended story I have in mind - I just think there could be. I see three homes, a waning moon above, and soil, water, and earth below. And colors that just make me feel . . . . homey and warm and earthy.

I’m feeling so inspired to sew right now, so I’ve got some plans in the works . . . like a Quilt Show + Sale coming later this year????? More details and a *new website* coming soon!

xoxoxo Mer