So in between having fits at the sore state of my Nightshade quilt, which just isn’t coming together in a way I’m happy with, I’ve been quietly piecing together a quilt for H’s first Halloween with Sherry Berry’s Costume Clubhouse fabric and Julie’s Radio Way pattern. And making this quilt top I had an epiphany that’s so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t put it into words years ago: I’m an emotional quilter, not a precision quilter. I quilt the exact same way I paint, with lots of enthusiasm and outside the lines. I will never win awards for my neat and tidy piecing and quilting, but I love my janky sewing skills nonetheless. I’m not someone who can spend a year on one quilt. I’m someone who hears about a friend or colleague in the hospital and immediately makes them a quilt–with lots of love and lots of mistakes.

And this quilt was no exception. I realized how wonky it was as I was squaring up each row, and I decided that’s part of why I loved it. Besides, it’s Halloween. Everything is supposed to be a little off center.

So I used 1 rolie polie of the print fabric and some of a Moda Bella Solids jelly roll in Snow (I keep a bunch lying around, love those precut strips). I didn’t have enough to make the lap size quilt, but I wanted something bigger than the 4×4 baby quilt…so I just made mine 5×5 and added a center square out of the backing fabric. I sewed the strips together in sets; some were 5 strips of the patterned fabric, and then others were 3 patterned 2 solid.

Then I cut them down into blocks based on the pattern instructions and either added white borders to the remaining sides or left them as is. I laid them out, arranged my rows, and sewed them up.

And that’s when I realized how wackadoodle my sewing was. Look at the alignment on that bottom row! I don’t even know how I managed to do that, honestly. But I still love it.

I’m hoping to get it quilted in time to show off at the NYC Metro Mod quilt guild meeting on Saturday, but that’s pretty ambitious. We’ll see.