Pathways of My Life (a design from Melva Loves Scraps which she calls Pieces of My Life) is finished! I put the last hand stitches in the binding on Tuesday evening, and then hung it up for some beauty shots. I really wanted to take it outside for photos, but the light was never quite right - I think it's the time of year.
This quilt journey began in March of 2024 when Melva introduced the idea of making a quilt to tell the story of your life. Since I was going to be celebrating my 70th birthday in September of 2024, this seemed like the perfect project for the year. And I enjoyed it immensely!
57.5 x 61.5
I loved making each and every block in this quilt -
not a one of then gave me any trouble.
Thank you, Melva, for great instructions for each block and section, plus
the how-to for finishing this in Quilt As You Go style!
It all worked out well!
I've been trying to decide if I have a favorite block - and it could be this one, the large spool block. It represents my wedding dress - read more about it
here.
In particular, this one is special to me because my mom made my dress and I included this photo in the post. A memory of happy times! What girl wouldn't remember her wedding dress as her favorite dress ever?!
The backing for Pathways of My Life is this pretty yellow with floral wreaths on it.
I quilted each block a little differently - some stitch-in-the-ditch, some topstitching, some grids, some gentle curves. It was fun looking at the blocks and figuring out what might work in each one.
To bind it, I used the same blue Grunge, called "Sea," that I used for the sashing throughout the quilt. As I put the quilt together, I had an up and down relationship with that sashing color - questioning my decision-making in choosing it, since it's pretty dark. But it came to symbolize the pathways that life takes you on - meandering all around the quilt - just as through life - and I grew to like it.
A lot of you have followed along all the way through this project, and I thank you so much for that! As much for myself as for any other reason, I'm going to list all the previous posts about making this quilt in this post, but if you're curious about any of them, you can click on the links below.
2. Friendship Stars: April 2, 2024
3. Bachelor's Puzzle: April 14, 2024
4. Ohio Star and Bow Tie: May 21, 2024
5. Love and Friendship - Heart block: June 18, 2024
6. Steps to the Altar: July 2, 2024
7. Wedding dress (spool block): July 23, 2024
8. Wedding Ring (Day): August 18, 2024
9. Chimney and Cornerstones: September 1, 2024
10. Early married years (first post about the house): September 9, 2024
11. Who taught you to sew?/ parents: September 24, 2024
12. Family and travel (block - Rough Road): October 8, 2024
13. More about the kids (block - Broken Dishes): October 22, 2024
14. Maple Leaf block/Fall/work: November 5,
15. Jacob's Ladder - Mike’s family, kids, work life: November 19, 2024
16. Final blocks - home and family, friends and activities: December 8, 2024
Thank you, Melva, for all the inspiration, memory ideas,
great instructions, and beautiful quilt blocks!
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4 comments:
Beautiful quilt, full of memories! I’ve never tried quilt as you go. I should give it a try.
Congrats on a very fun finish. It's been fun to read all the stories about your life. Do your sons read your blog? It's so easy to forget to share those stories with our kids. Grad Girl is continually surprised to learn things about her parents that make us people not just parents.
Oh Diann, it is so, so lovely, you did a spectacular job on this quilt! Will you show it to your boys? I love the blue pathways throughout, and your fabric choices reflect the thought and love you put into it. Glad you finished it so you can enjoy it this winter!
I'm bookmarking your post for inspiration to finish mine - I think I only made two blocks.
A beautiful finish! Proud of you for sticking with the QAYG.
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