Category: Projects

For a year or two I have had an idea in my heart.  I want to make a quilt about some circumstances and experiences that have impacted my life.  The idea has a name and story; I’m just not sure how to make it turn out in fabric the way I feel about it in my heart.  So I delayed, but it hasn’t gone away.  Along came a moment that is burned into my memory, and it gave me courage to start.


This log cabin block represents that moment.  I realized that what I need, more than a pretty quilt, is the experience of making.  I need to try.  Does it matter if the outcome is something I’ll ever share?  Of course not.  That’s part of creativity.  Sometimes we make to learn, to experiment, to find our voice, and we know we will probably throw it away.


Last weekend I attended the studio show of a local artist whose work speaks to me.  Someone asked her about her creative process and how she found her creative voice.  One part of her response was that she bought a big pack of canvases to paint on and told herself that every one of them was intended for the trash.  She gave herself permission to paint something ugly.  Then she said, “I never made it through all the canvases because I started painting things that felt like me.”  I love that.


This log cabin block isn’t actually a part of the picture I have for my project but I realized I can make as many versions of my idea as I need to.  What matters is that I answer the call to try.  I’m sure the experience will be therapeutic, and I’ve got plenty of fabric, so it’s OK to make something ugly.  It’s part of the process, but it’s only a process if we find courage to start.

A few years ago my sister made me this amazing improv quilt block that says, “be brave.”  I have a really bad habit of saving things that are special instead of just using them.  I always tell myself I’ll find the most amazing, perfect use for it and THEN I will use it.  Unfortunately, I did that with this quilt block.  It went in a box with a few pieces of fabric for the quilt I thought I would make.

Except I forgot all about it.
I rediscovered the block a few weeks ago and immediately made this Be Brave Mini Quilt.


At least I learn from my mistakes!  It only took a few minutes for me to quilt it with straight lines approximately 1/4″ apart.


After quilting I remembered a jar of labels that same sister gave me, and in it I found the “you matter to me” label.  The bright red message fit perfectly at the bottom of the mini quilt.  I chose a bright print from my stash for the back and added tabs for hanging.  A leftover piece of binding completed the project – perhaps the fastest finish of anything I’ve ever made!


I made this be brave mini quilt as a gift for one of my daughters.  2019 has been a big year in our home and brought many opportunities to be brave.  Sometimes we rise to them and sometimes we forget who we are and what we can do.  I gave this to her because I want her to know that she can be brave, and that she matters to me.  I hope this visual reminder will bless her life and help her in moments when she’s tempted to believe otherwise.


We all need this reminder sometimes.  I’m sharing it now because today we’re doing something brave as a family.  We’re sending our son away for two years of missionary service.  It’s the happiest, best thing and will help him become the man he needs to be, but it also hurts and our hearts ache with love and missing him already.  He matters to us; we matter to him.  So we’re being brave because we love God and know that EVERYONE matters to Him.


If you need this reminder today, let me say it again:  Be Brave.  You matter.