Bloggers Quilt Festival Entry

The first annual Bloggers' Quilt Festival is underway. Amy at Park City Girl has asked quilters to post about their favorite completed quilt project, and the story that goes with it. For me, this was an easy request. This log cabin quilt was finished just days before my little b was born.

I have blogged about this quilt before, so therein lies the partial story; but what this quilt means to me is a different tale altogether. Early in my pregnancy, I went shopping for fabric. Little b was born on the Winter Solstice, so I had a wintry palette chosen. Then I went to a new fabric store in our town and absolutely fell in love with the selection of batiks there. I shelved my other fabric for holiday projects and chose a rainbow of batiks, and decided to try my first log cabin quilt.

After piecing the top, Sue was kind enough to let me use her short-arm quilting machine. I loved it.
This quilt was my first attempt using many things: batiks, a log cabin design, free motion quilting, a quilting machine, and hand binding. Although lately I've been enjoying more improvisational quilting, I still smile every time I look at this gift to my son. Stitching the last of the binding just days before little b's birth was a powerful exercise for me, and it seemed to absolve my fear about not being able to shower my new baby with the same level of attention I had grown used to giving Big B. This quilt was a gesture, however symbolic, of my intention to cover this new soul with warmth, with brightness, with love, and with careful attention.