Friday, March 24, 2023

The Extra X / Beauties Pageant 209

 

As many of you know, I have the privilege of raising a son with Down syndrome. This past week, on March 21, my family and I celebrated our special guy, along with the rest of the DS community, for World Down Syndrome Day.

I introduced the quilting community to my personal experience raising a child with special needs back in 2018, when I shared my 47XY+21 project. And, really, I thought that was the only quilt I would make on the subject. When I was designing the PDF pattern for my Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt, however, I realized that the blocks could be arranged to form an X, and that sparked an idea for a second quilt.

Down syndrome is caused by a genetic anomaly at conception (or very soon thereafter) that causes an extra chromosome on the 21st pair of a person’s chromosomes. Chromosomes are often depicted as Xs because they take on that shape during mitosis, so this quilt and the large X on it pay tribute to my son’s bonus chromosome.

I suspect that’s what many people who meet him first see: his disability and how that plays out in his life. But the message of this project is found in the quilting. In a process detailed here, I FMQed 20 different words and phrases over this 62-inch by 70-inch quilt:

  • Son
  • Brother
  • Grandson
  • Nephew
  • Friend
  • Neighbor
  • Student
  • Classmate
  • Reader
  • Explorer
  • Comedian
  • Animal lover
  • Music lover
  • Dancer
  • Basketball player
  • Bowler
  • Mini-golfer
  • Train aficionado
  • Trick-show enthusiast
  • Child of God

The quilting was my way of telling the world that you don’t have to look too hard to see that there’s much more to my son than his diagnosis. He’s a son, a brother, a friend, a student, and many other things that enrich both his life and the lives of those around him.

It’s important to me to shed light on what it’s like raising a child with special needs. I never would have self-selected for this challenge, but my son’s birth and diagnosis have been some of the best things to happen to me. Raising this child has changed me as a wife, a mother, and a person. And the world is a better place with my son in it. 

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Friday, March 17, 2023

MMM Quilts' Pop Star Quilt / Beauties Pageant 208


Quilty friends, its been a while! When I last posted, QuiltCon was in full swing. It was the third time I attended the Modern Quilt Guild's annual event, and the experience lived up to my expectations. Over the course of four days, I listened to some lectures, greeted quilters at the Quilt Pattern Mart booth, and caught up with friends from all over the world. 

And I came home, exhausted and on the brink of illness. : /

I was happy, then, to have this baby quilt, from MMM Quilts Pop Star, all basted and ready for some straight-line quilting. It was the perfect easy project to while away the time when I wasnt feeling up to life as usual.

Pop Star is one of those rare star patterns that immediately catch my eye—I think its super unique! I also love that its a whole-composition quilt, as opposed to a block-based project, and that it comes together quickly with just a handful of fabrics. 

The trick here is to consider directionality and value: I steered away from fabrics with a strong sense of direction and made sure there was adequate contrast between the fabrics I used. It sounds like an easy order to fill, but the only fabrics from stash were the coral ladybugs and center-star polka dots. Everything else, including the looks-like-it-was-made-for-this-quilt binding fabric, came from my local quilt shop.

Im always looking for baby quilt patterns to add to my repertoire. Needless to say, I will be making Pop Star again in the future! Do you have any thoughts on how I can change things up next time? My inclination is to repeat my approach with a white/off-white background, a midtone print for the large star, and darker tones for the middle star and exploding stars, but Id love to hear your thoughts. Thank you in advance!


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Friday, February 24, 2023

Greetings from QuiltCon Atlanta / Beauties Pageant 207

I left the stormy, cold weather of Massachusetts on Thursday and am now hanging out with a few thousand quilty friends in Atlanta, at QuiltCon. It has been four years since I last was able to attend this event, and I was overdue. Truly, no other quilt show is quite like QuiltCon.

If you are also in Atlanta, come see me at the Quilt Pattern Mart booth (#2315), along with my Set to Spin quilt and my ombre Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt. In fact, QuiltCon attendees who visit the QPM booth can download instructions for the small throw size of Set to Spin for free! (It has been released as a full pattern here.)

I dont have any quilts in the show this year, but a few of my quilts have hung at past QuiltCons, in Savannah (2017), Nashville (2019), and Austin (2020).

Heres the roundup ...

Mix and Mingle appeared at QuiltCon Savannah. There was a nine-patch challenge that year, so I made a huge one and then cut it up and sewed it back together. Because this was my first show submission and it was accepted and I traveled to Savannah, Mix and Mingle has a special place in my heart.

Circa 1870 showed at QuiltCon Nashville, which I also had the luxury of attending. I love this beauty and the backing fabric that inspired the palette. I have had many requests to write a pattern for this design, but making it requires many Y-seams. (Enough said.)

47XY+21 hung at the same time as Circa 1870. I have the privilege of raising a son with Down syndrome, and 47XY+21 is about that parenting journey. You can read about my amazing son here.

Love Boldly showed at QuiltCon Austin and has since been released as a full pattern. I wasnt able to attend the conference that year, so I took special delight in this picture, which Quilt Pattern Mart Founder Heather Kinion took of the show floor. Those hearts are so big and bright that you can pick them out from the sea of quilts! 


 


You can read the original post about Love Boldy here. Info about the pattern is available here.

What is your take on quilt shows? Do you attend them? Do you submit your projects to them? Tell us about it in the comments.

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The pageant rules are simple:
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  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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Click here to enter