I Heart Quilts (Quilts Heart CarSharing)

I think about quilts. I have an internal file of new ones to make.  I make little sketches and buy fabric.  Sometimes I spend a few weeks making lots of little quilts. I listen to VPR and new music from Drew. Sewing and cutting and getting lost in stitching.

They're not all great and they're not all hand quilted, but a day spent like that always makes me darn happy. Then suddenly a year passes and I haven't done any quilt sewing. I walk by my little stacks of fabric. They move increasingly into their corners. I think "I used to make quilts." 

Last year, about this time, I had an idea to make a quilt with lots of hearts all fluttering around, barely sewn down. I didn't wonder how I'd wash it.  I just wanted to make it. Little sketches tucked in my pocket (or,  crumpled in the bottom of my bag) I bought fabric, cut and started piecing it together.

But then I hung it on my studio wall, and sort of liked it there. Enough to leave it up, indefinitely.

Recently some friends were looking for art donations for Carshare, a great new local organization. They have a fundraiser upcoming. It has a heart filled theme. I remembered that partially pinned quilt on my wall and thought I should anti-procrastinate and finish it up. Instead I started over (mainly because said studio is an hour away. oh Middlebury, why are you so far from Burlington?). I thought I should give it to someone, like the carshare people. Especially because we drive so much (though we try to car share, we can't always). So this quilt is like my personal carbon offset for all of the miles Drew and I drive (wherein I have thoughts about quilting and valentine's day card making. I wager most of Drew's are spent thinking about Mad River Glen). Someday soon, we'll drive less.

Here are a few images from the piecing process and machine sewn rows of top stitching. It's almost done. If you are local, you can swing on over and make a bid!

Good night quilt. Thanks for being made.