Blogger's Quilt Festival

Hooray for Amy! It's time for the Spring 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival

I for one have been thinking long and hard about which quilt to enter this year. I have more finished quilts this time around to choose from, which makes me happy, but it makes for more choices.

But I kept coming back to this quilt.

 The only picture I had was in the snow. So of course I had to retake the picture in springtime!

 Although it does look good on top of the snow.

And now the story. I had my fifth and last child last October. She was born in the middle of law school mid-terms for my husband, and came via emergency c-section. I named her Caroline after my late maternal grandmother, who had passed away last May.

It was my hardest recovery of all my babies. I always struggle with post-partum depression, and this time was just a little bit worse. I can normally count on my body bouncing back pretty quickly, but that wasn't happening. I won't go into gory details. Let's just say it involved a whole lot more visits to the doctor, urgent care and ER than all the others combined.

Enter Pam Kitty Morning, my favorite fabric line. It was bright, cheery, and fun to work with. I wanted to make a Victory Garden quilt, both as a tribute to my Rosie the Riveter grandmother (she's got a great story!) and as a memory of one of the things that got me through this winter. Downton Abbey.

 As silly as it might be, I looked forward to each and every episode. I love British period pieces, and this has been no different. I had two escapes from my fog of depression: working on quilts and watching Downton. Mary is my favorite. Don't hate me, but I love her.

With this quilt, it was a pattern I could do a little at a time and not forget what I was working on. And the blocks came together so well but appeared so difficult that I couldn't help but be tickled at it all. I machine quilted it in an all-over loopy design, taking time and walking away when I had to. And now it's the quilt I get the most compliments on. In fact, my mom wants a king-sized version for her bed.

And now I have a perfect lap quilt to snuggle under while I watch Downton reruns. Do I really have to wait until January? Yikes!

The lovely part is that while the depression is gone, the passion for quilting, or Downton, does not bring back the depressed feelings. Instead, it reminds me that no matter how dark things get, there is always something to light your way out of it. You just have to find it.

Have a lovely time looking at all the quilts during the festival, and thanks for stopping by!