Quilty McQuilterson

I am prouder of this quilt than perhaps any other one I've ever made. It is the first one I ever designed myself, and I made it in 2001, at the first quilt retreat after 9-11, and slept under it on Saturday night (this is a big accomplishment, non-quilting people). It's based on the bullseye quilt, with layers of fabric sewn on top of each other, with seams left ragged. Like the bullseye, it looks way more complicated than it is. The fabrics are 100% cotton, with a cotton batting, making this a medium to light-weight quilt.

Within a year of making this quilt, Shaun and I got engaged, bought a house, Shaun got fired, we got married, adopted a dog (who rudely chewed three holes in this quilt, which I promptly patched) and my dad died. It was a wild year.

And now this quilt is almost nine years old. Nine years! I've slept under it every night I've been home since that first night at quilt retreat. The blue and yellow are for Sweden, where my grandfather proudly hailed from. I'm more of a red-orange kind of girl, but I wanted something soothing for my bed, and this quilt brought me many sweet dreams.

It's far from perfect: some of the squares are glaring at me even in these photos (gold check, I'm looking at you) and you can see it's finally falling apart. I doubt it will make it to age 10. I should start work, soon, on a replacement for it, because it has served me well.