Yesenia
70” x 70”
This girl is a bundle of energy, when you get to know her. She is warm and welcoming to all, but saves the best of herself for her friends. But don’t worry, she is quick to make you her friend. With an infectious laugh she can make anyone smile. With a great hug she can make anyone feel loved. She gives so much there might not be enough left for herself, so this quilt is a way to give herself a hug.
A good family friend, my MIL’s best friend, is going through a challenging time and deserved to be hugged, to be reminded that she is loved by many. When I heard her news I immediately wanted to make her a quilt. There were some time constraints so it had to be a quick finish. In consultation with my MIL I went though the available quilt tops to see if any of them would work. Turns out the answer was no, our friend is more of an earth tone person than any of my quilts. Unphased, I went through sets of blocks and samples to see if any of them would work. This collection of log cabins was the winner!
The set of six blocks were made as a sample for my friend Janine at Uppercase Magazine when she was launching a fabric collection. I’ve made a few things for her over the years, but with this set she wanted in progress, not finished quilts. The blocks have sat for years since, with me only pulling them out as samples when I teach my Traditional Variations class.
The bonus challenge set by this project is the use of sage green. You see, sage green is probably my least favourite colour. And it is our dear friend’s favourite. Thankfully, these blocks played well with sage. There is a touch of a yellow green in a few of the fabrics so I added yellow and green into the mix. I did have to make more blocks so it was an easy add. This only would make the quilt 60” square, however. In my opinion that is on the small side for a snuggly quilt. Instead of making more blocks I opted for a border.
What? A border? You, Cheryl?
Sage green and a border, I don’t know who I am anymore.
Oh right, I’m someone who wanted to give out a hug that would be truly appreciated. I’m still me, though, so I had to do the border my way. That’s why it is only on the two sides, creating an off balance composition. It’s a bit of tension that seems to work.
The whole thing reminds me of the rise of modern quilts 20 years ago. For quite a few years a modern quilt was defined by a log cabin, wonky or not, with a lot of negative space. This quilt comes across as a little throwback to those times!
To quilt her I opted to contrast all those right angles with flowers and swirls. Most of the fabrics are tone on tone so the quilting is very visible. And to up that sage green I picked that exact colour in my thread for the stitches. The whole thing was done in a few hours on a rented long arm at one of my local quilt shops, My Sewing Room.
I had no good fabrics for binding either. I wanted a softer edge versus high contrast. Did I have that in my stash? Of course not, thankfully this beige was perfect and found at My Sewing Room as well.
From blocks on the design wall to a delivered quilt it was only 3 weeks. A record for me, especially in December! Totally worth it as it is coming in good use to give hugs through a trying time.