Utah Row by Row Experience 2016-I won!
First, a couple of pictures of my finished quilt! :)
And now the story of how I came to make it!
I had a drawing workshop with the Da Vinci Initiative in Springville, Utah in June. It's about a two hour drive from both our apartment in Cedar City and my parent's house in Wellsville, so I stayed with my dad's uncle and aunt, Randy and Vickie Bott (who are both INCREDIBLE!), and my Mom and Dad kept Henley with them.
My mom and I were talking one night while I was there and she asked me if I'd stop to pick up a pattern for her in American Fork. She mentioned wanting one from Richfield too, but that would be too far out of the way to drive, so she'd just have to go without that one. She said they were free, and that I could see pictures of them online.
I got online, looked at the Row by Row and realized what it was all about and decided to surprise her. I recruited Jordan to stop in Richfield on her way up, and during my lunch break and drive up to Wellsville, I picked up a total of 12 patterns.
While stopping for all the patterns, I had so much fun, I decided I was interested and that I'd make a quilt too. Thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal, I got started. I picked my patterns based on a few things I liked, and things got slowly underway.
During this time, I had an assignment in one of my summer classes come up that changed everything. It was an assignment to document a life, using as many Multiple Intelligences as possible. Switching out a few rows to make the quilt document my life, instead of just cute rows, I really got revved up to get things done! Turns out, applique on quilts takes FOREVER. My mom decided that she didn't want to do a full quilt, so she ended up helping me. She put together and finished the bike row, then put together the garden. Then disaster struck. Jordan had a trip planned with a friend who backed out last minute, but Jordan still really wanted to go.
Long story short, my mom ended up going to California with Jordan, so I was on my own to put everything together. I was trying so hard to get the entire quilt done while she was gone, but that was impossible. While she was gone, I blanket stitched the garden, prepared and blanket stitched the aprons row, then prepared the house row, the sewing room row, the trailer row, the farm row, and the hedgehogs row. All that was left was to blanket stitch everything, do the chicken row entirely, and piece everything together!
There was a lot of cutting, ironing, and sewing. And planning. Way more planning than I expected.
With just a few hiccups in the road, it came together! My mom's Gammill acted up a bit, so it took two days to quilt rather than just a few hours. I also underestimated how long it would take to make it. It was definitely not the easy project I expected. But I learned SOOOO much, I wouldn't trade it for the world!
Click through this slideshow to see pictures of the quilting process:
Finally, I got the binding done and the buttons all sewn on. After taking some pictures, to American Fork we went. Because the sewing room took the most time to do, we decided to go to their store first. The Quiltmaker's has my quilt in their store from now until September 3rd. If you're in the area, stop in to see it for yourself.
As soon as we walked in, the ladies in the store went crazy. They were soooo excited to finally have a winner for their store! Because I was the first person to take my finished quilt into their store, I got to choose 25 fat quarters and I got a $30 gift certificate! Not a bad prize for spending weeks and weeks making a quilt! ;)
For my class project, I'll now discuss each row and how it relates to my life:
When I was little we had a chicken coop and chickens. I was terrified of them, so I found a way every single day to avoid going to get the eggs. From being absent when that chore was assigned to forcing my younger siblings to do it, I NEVER got the eggs. My grandma has chickens now, and Henley LOVES them, so I've had to move past my fear of chickens to be okay with them. Also, my mom's whole house is decorated with chickens and roosters, so chickens have been part of my life through the years.
When I was little, we had a playhouse in our front yard with a sandbox underneath it. I spent hours and hours during the summer up there, playing house. Eventually we donated it to my cousins, and I have missed it terribly. When I have a house, I'm definitely making my kids a treehouse! The bike at the bottom is one of my favorite touches. In the summer of 2011, I worked as much overtime as I could, working for 42 days straight in order to be able to buy my first bike, a Felt ZW75. I rode many miles on the bike, over Utah and Colorado. I had to sell it before heading back to SUU for school, but as soon as I'm working as a teacher, a bike will be one of the first purchases I make.
These two blocks were so fun to make. The top one with the trailers is to show my love of camping. I don't camp much anymore, but when I was little, we went camping all the time. I loved it, as it meant a lot of family time, with my immediate family and with our cousins and grandparents. One year, my sister Jordan broke her jaw riding bikes. It was while camping one summer, I got especially into reading, which is usually one of my main summer hobbies!
The hedgehogs is a little more abstract. I think hedgehogs are adorable always, but especially babies. In this row, I changed the pattern a bit to include flowers, which both Henley and I love. I had both hedgehogs wear bows that match the bows I put on the monsters I sell through my website and etsy shop. But I think it's especially meaningful, because for now, Henley and I don't have a permanent home as I work to get through college. Eventually we will have a forever home of our own, which we will make a home inside and out.
The garden block is one of my favorites. At my parent's house is Wellsville, my mom has spent endless hours during each summer to create an oasis, with flowers, huge trees, and a garden that feeds us through the year. I have fond memories canning, pulling weeds, and harvesting food. Now, as I spend the summers with my parents, I've grown a deep appreciation at having grown up surrounded by so much beauty. It reminds me that I want to be the kind of mom who provides my kids an equally beautiful place to grow up and make memories.
The house row is one of my favorites. At our cabin, there's been a hammock up each summer, and I've always loved to swing and make memories. When I have a house, I want a tire swing and hammock eventually. The house is a reminder to me of what I'm working for. I have an enormous pinterest board that serves as inspiration for the tiny house I hope to build someday. I love houses with dormers, shutters, window boxes, and that aren't just the cookie cutter houses popular today. I also love to fly kites, and now that I have kiddo of my own, I have loved experiencing those more whimsical aspects of my childhood with her. Purple is my favorite color, and eventually when we settle down, I want to get a vespa to rock and roll around the town. I'm going to be an art teacher and what student doesn't love to know what their teachers drive and tease them about their choice in transportation?
The aprons are a symbol of how much I love to bake and cook. I have been baking since I was little when my mom gave each of her children a night of the week where they were responsible for cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen. My dad and brother, Nick, are always asking for treats. Usually it's my dad who asks, "What kind of cookies are you going to make for me?" which is his way of asking for a treat. The apron on the very right on this quilt was made from scraps from an apron that my mom made for me, and which I use regularly when cooking and baking. I love the personal touch from that specific apron!
The farm row was one of my favorites to create. When I was little, my dad would frequently take us to his uncle's farm, complete with tractors, animals, and soooo many peacocks. We would climb on the hay bales in the barn during games of hide-and-seek, and I always begged to ride with my dad on the tractors. My dad did a meat-cutting course when he was young, so every few years, he and my mom buy a cow or pig to slaughter and package for our freezer. I have learned to appreciate where our meat comes from, as well as the valuable skills of being able to slaughter and preserve animals. My bother Nick LOVES pigs and raised pigs when we were kids, and we'd always tease him that they were named things like, "Easter dinner," and things like that.
And last, but definitely not least, is the sewing room row. When I was 15 or 16, my mom had me take a quilting class. From that point forward, while I didn't really make any quilts, I have known how to sew and have been able to fix clothes, and make things when I've needed or wanted to. Last fall, I started making my monsters, after Henley turned two. In the original pattern, they had a dog lying on top of the fabric, but I don't have a dog, so I decided to incorporate a little version of Henley in the quilt. I took pictures and gave the baby on the fabric piggytails, which is one of Henley's favorite hairstyles. Every time she sees it, she points and says, "That's Henley!" I also incorporated a pop can and lipstick because I have a serious Swig obsession, and can't ever have too many chapsticks and lipsticks lying around. I'm an addict to chapstick and HATE to have dry lips! On the to-do list, you'll see homework crossed off, which is especially funny, because as I tried to get the quilt done, my classes suffered. So now that I'm done with the quilt, I'll be busy making up all the work I kept putting off! :)
So there you have it. The long long story of how I came to make my quilt and the meaning behind it!