So here’s the scoop. That block layout from yesterday was the entire quilt – aka mini (12″ quilt).  The other day I saw that Amy Ellis was starting a new venture called Curated Quilts and the challenge was put forth to make a mini quilt, 10-16″ square, using specific colors from their palette.  I had just finished piecing the labyrinth and I knew it would be a couple of days before I start my next quilt, so I had just enough time to make something.

I went into EQ7 and designed a paper pieced block and started playing around with both the design as well as the color combinations they had listed – steel grey/blue, lighter and darker salmon, medium grey, black and white could be included.  I decided to go with the colors that struck me first, leaving out the grey and black.  Originally I laid this block out with a white background, and the steel blue where the white is now but re-thought that after thinking about it.  White wasn’t one of their preferred colors listed so I thought better of making it be a major portion of the quilt.

After I played around with the layout, I decided to go with 4 blocks to make a 12″ square and from there, I started rotating the blocks online until I saw the one that really spoke to me.  As it turns out, this layout won by a landslide after I posted about it here and on IG which worked out well since that was the layout I was going with!

So here’s what this quilt says.  First of all, I named it “Pulled In All Directions” because it represents where I’m at in life right now.  With major changes in several areas of my life, I’m being pulled one way one day, and then another way the next.  As executor for my mom’s estate I get requests to sign papers from the attorney or the investment guy, or I’m on the phone with one of their assistants.  We are still getting bills from the hospital from when my husband was admitted after his car was totaled, and the car dealership applied 3 weeks late for the license plates and his temporary tags are about to expire so there are phone calls and emails pulling me in that direction.  I’m busy signing up for summer and fall classes and talking to my school advisor and the bursar’s office which is pulling me in another direction.  And I have several things going on at church that are calling for my attention; more phone calls, meetings and so forth.  Faith, family, friends, career – those are the 4 sides of this quilt, and I’m in the middle, being pulled in all 4 directions.

Hopefully you can see that now that I’ve written that out…  I continued this through the quilting.  The circle in the middle is me, and there are small pebbles which represent the straightest path in each case, followed by wandering lines on each side.  Do I take the straight and narrow which gets me to the end goal faster, or do I take the scenic view on some of these and just enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the the destination?

The straight lines quilted in the smaller sections represent my history.  I can see in so many instances where decisions I made – some as far back as 30+ years ago – have led me to where I am now.  What was once before me and unclear is now behind me and I can see so many instances where each of these 4 things – faith, family, friends and career – shaped me.

And finally, the binding.  Do you have someone in your life that maybe they don’t know what a big influence they are on you?  Maybe they think they just blend in, almost like this lighter salmon fabric does within the quilt.  But the binding holds everything together.  Do you have someone who has a way of bringing  you back to reality, maybe it’s an encouraging word when you need it or sometimes it’s the voice of reason that they provide.  And they don’t know that in that moment, they’re the part that in that moment pulls everything together, just like the binding does on a quilt.