Little Bravery: The 12 Month Quilt: A Year-Long Sewing Project

The day I got back from Georgia, my family was faced with the difficult task of clearing out my Nana's craft room. My Nana was an avid crafter, and like me, she was a bit of a project starter (I think its quite possible this is a genetic trait). Her craft room was filled with countless partially-finished crafts, including queen-sized quilts, embroidered pillowcases, crocheted afghans and scrapbook layouts, among many, many other things. There were hundreds of patterns, yards of fabric, spools of thread, balls of yarn and packets of buttons organized neatly into drawers, boxes and baskets. Decades of craft supplies lined every wall and found a home in every cabinet, nook and cranny. Just looking at it was overwhelming, and we scarcely knew where to even start when looking through it. But honestly, it wasn't the amount of stuff that made that Sunday emotionally trying; it was the finality of it all.

Growing up, I can count on less than one hand the number of times I didn't see my Nana working on some project or another. You see, crafting was a part of her and was one of the things that made her, well, her. Whether she was sewing together a quilt by hand or crocheting clothes for one of our dolls, she always seemed to be working on something, though usually it was more like 15 "somethings" at a time. Being surrounded by projects I knew she really put her heart into but never got a chance to finish was really painful, and the idea of them being either thrown away or donated was even worse.

All of the women in my family spent the day sorting and taking anything they wanted, with many of us choosing to take half-finished or just-started projects over things that were completely made. Among the several boxes of yarn, fabric, buttons, threads and other miscellaneous items I took, I collected a number of partially finished quilts; including a bag of pieces she had cut but never had the time to sew together. Among them was a kit of 12 blocks meant to be sewn across the span of a year she had never started on.

And so, that brings us to the 12 month quilt; a cumulative sewing project I will be updating about monthly on the blog. Using these bits and pieces, I will complete one square each month until the time comes to put my quilt together. This is but one of many projects I intend to create using the supplies I've inherited from my Nana, but is perhaps the largest and most complicated one I currently have in my mind.

You see, I have never quilted before, so this is going to be a huge learning experience as I go. I know I could technically race through and build my quilt rather quickly, but my Nana always took the time to hand stitch incredibly detailed designs into her quilt blocks, and I intend to do the same. I also want to ensure I have plenty of time to dedicate to my other sewing/craft endeavors, job and life. Using this basic kit, I intend to make the quilt my Nana never got the chance to start on, and I think that working on it will help me continue coming to terms with her death while still feeling connected to her. My sister had the privilege of learning to quilt from my Nana, and has offered to teach me so that I can learn to do it the way my Nana did, rather than from a book using popular methods.

I can't wait to get started on my first square, and I hope you guys enjoy this new monthly feature! At the end of the month, I will check back in with photos of my finished square for August.? If any of you are quilters, I would love to hear some of your personal tips and tricks to help me as I get started in the art of quilting. So far, it has proven to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be!

Source: http://little-bravery.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-12-month-quilt-year-long-sewing.html

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