The Swan Glimmer Quilt

How the swans got into the garden.
The tale of the Swan Glimmer Quilt Kit.

Sometimes when fabric arrives my children commandeer it. I tend to indulge their need for fabric and cut off a couple of inches so they can wrap it around their dolls. When the Glimmer line from Free Spirit came in last year my oldest child wanted more than just fabric, she wanted a quilt. Occasionally the world meets in a perfect place and I can give her what she wants. I also fell in love with the Glimmer line, full of swans, dragonflies, cricket, cattails and koi, in wonderful art deco style with great colors. The fabric line only had one flaw; most of the fabric is directional. Most of my quilts are designed for fabric with allover patterns. I put the fabric aside and waited for inspiration. Inspiration arrived during a visit to my mom. She has a subscription a Clotilde’s Sewing Savvy, a magazine I like but since most of my sewing is quilts I have never subscribed to it, and I have a subscription now. Well last summer they had a great cover quilt; I loved the design but thought the colors were too soft. I “borrowed” the magazine from my mom and put it up in my studio. It took another couple of days and I subtle hint from my daughter that I NEEDED to get started on her fairytale quilt.

Every time, she walked past the fabric she would add to her quilt’s story. It started with a princess, as all 6-year-old’s stories do, who lived in a castle, the quilt is her garden. Every morning, she would take a walk and during her walk she would stop and see her swans and watch the dragonflies. The story changes now every time she looks at the quilt.

The pattern in Clotilde’s was perfect for the fabric. I could easily keep all the directional fabric going in the right direction, super easy to piece. I started and finished it in a week.

Of course, these days if I make something it has to "do time" in the store. The quilt went traveling in March, started in Athens, GA. It also had the singular honor of hanging in Mittie’s closet (toilet) at the Bulloch Hall Show. This summer the quilt will be in Alabama & North Carolina. We sold most of the kits in March and J is hoping that we sell out of kits in June so she can have her quilt, free & clear.