The Uni Quilt

Sixteen years ago, my very first post on this* blog was entitled The Bonus Quilt. While raiding my mum’s fabric stash, I came across a bundle of orphan blocks, and turned them into a quilt for my 20 month old son. And so began a decade and a half journey of exploring online writing, reconnecting with old hobbies and collecting a whole pile of new ones in the name of creative play; and in the name of attempting to keep a little something for myself in the daily grind of toddlers and babies and school kids and teenagers, of homeschool lessons and driving lessons and life lessons.

(*”this” being a loose concept – my original blog was a WordPress one, followed by a shift and then a rebrand. If you’ve been here since the beginning, or the second iteration, I’d love it if you dropped a comment so we can connect old school style!)

The me of 2008 thought I had all the time in the world to revel in my babies and their quilts and making memories. The me of 2024 started crying as I typed the header of this point – capitalised properly, not my usual lapslock, to best reflect that original post – because the days might be long but the years are so very short, and that tiny boy is now a grown man; 18 last week, a uni place secured along with a college room in a residential hall, and in four short months, he will be packing up his room and moving eight hours away to Sydney. I am so so proud of him and his achievements, and it is a joy to watch him spread his wings and grow into his potential, but by golly my mama heart is breaking into a million pieces everytime I think about how far away he will be.

When I have all the big emotions, I do two things. I write lists, and I get making. This one is so huge and overwhelming I am doing both. I have a spreadsheet with lists for pack, buy, make; and I started one of my most ambitious quilt projects to date. For my nearest and dearest, for those big events, a quilt is my favourite way to demonstrate my whole “crafting as a love language” thing.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been telling myself I need to get started on glory boxes for the kids, but kept putting it off, because there would be plenty of time for that.

Until there wasn’t

A few months back, I pulled up some options on Pinterest, and the child in question picked his favourite inspo image. There will be plenty of time, I told myself as I let it languish in my screenshots pile. I don’t need to start straight away, there will be plenty of time. Until there wasn’t. I sketched out a plan on procreate, and let it languish a bit more. Plenty of time, remember? No, no there isn’t.

The time that I’ve always been so sure I had plenty of is rapidly running out, and so I’m knee deep in a quilt that is both emotionally challenging and technically challenging.

Originally, I intended to use the sketched out design as foundation papers, but after completing the first section (in yellow), I wasn’t entirely sure it was working as I’d intended. Instead, I started on the green section with just regular improv piecing, and laying it over the printed pattern to get a feel for the curve I needed. I will then stay stitch the edges to hold it together and slightly firmer, before attempting the improve curve piecing to bring the whole quilt together. I won’t lie, friends, those improv curves and my terror of them have more than a wee role in my procrastinating.

Slowly, slowly, it is coming together. This week I am hoping to finish the green section, and the underlying ribbons from the top right section. If I can get that done, I might attempt the first of those curves. With birthday season in full swing, Sketchbook Revival starting tonight, Blogtober coming up, followed quickly by Advent and then we are into the new year and getting the boy packed up ready for uni, all that time I thought I had? It’s gone. There is no time, there is just now and this quilt and all my feels as I try and process this new chapter coming up faster than I ever thought possible.

I am desperately hoping I can pull it off and create a quilt he loves and can take with him to make his room feel full of home and love. If I can’t “tuck in” my boy each night, the least I can do is make sure he has a quilt-shaped hug from his mama to settle him into his bed and remind him that somewhere a long way north, I’m wishing him sweet dreams.