I am so honored to be your guest blogger today.  I hope recovery is going well, Jenna!  We are all looking forward to your full return to health.

I am working on a project right now that brings me buckets of happiness, so I am hoping to inspire you to start one of your own!  I am finally making my first quilt.  No, not the first quilt I have ever made, but instead the first quilt that will be mine and all mine.

I started quilting about 18 months ago.  Before that I did not know how to sew, did not have a sewing machine, did not even know where to get fabric in my town.  It’s been a steep learning curve, but I have finished 5 quilts.  Until now, quilting has really been focused on other folks.  I made wedding gifts, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts….but have still not made one for myself!

Catherine’s Christmas Quilt (2010)

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Super Top Secret Christmas Gift for Someone Special (2011)

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Mom’s Birthday Quilt (2011)

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Roisin’s Christmas Quilt (2010)

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Shannon and Phil’s Wedding Quilt (2011)

It is funny, quilters dedicate so much time, energy, thought, money, effort into each of these pieces, but we do not give them to ourselves.  Well, 2011 and 2012 are my years of Selfish Crafting.  I hope to make two quilts for myself; I’ll tell you the story of one: Mod Logs.

I fell in love with Fresh Flowers (by Moda)  ?ages ago.  Sometimes its hard to get pre-cuts in Ireland, so when I was lucky enough to find a jelly roll at a retreat, I scooped it up.  The search continued for a jelly roll friendly pattern…the search went on, and on, and on.  Finally! Mod Logs appeared in a Google search and I scooped it up in about 0.5 seconds flat.  But wait!  This calls for not one, but TWO jelly rolls!  Arg. The search continues.  After about 3 months of trying to organize myself, I had it all together and was ready to cut.  Still, I did not have a plan for this quilt.  How funny.  No one in mind for it.  It just made me happy to look at the fabric and that was good enough.

Piecing this was just heavenly.  You know how jelly roll quilts can be?  You get a really quick return for very little effort.  I know traditional old-school quilters have issues with the simplicity here, but I don’t.  This is exactly what I needed.  A breather.  Something beautiful, colorful and happy appearing in a very short time.  This was exactly that.  Simple, rewarding piecing in little to no time at all.

I pieced a back with the left over jelly roll strips and got to layering.  I am busy quilting this beauty (or beast -its HUGE) right now in simple straight line stitching.  I was hoping to have it finished by the time I wrote this post, but life just go in the way (you know how that goes….).  I am about two thirds of the way there.  Eventually there will be a solid red binding to frame the yellow/orange/blue craziness of the center.

In the next 7-10 days, I hope to have a finished quilt to show you.  It will be my quilt.  My first quilt to snuggle under for a movie or curl up in when I am sick.  I love the idea of it sitting on my bright red couch when I come home from work or being made into a fort for our 2 year old niece.  This is my first quilt and I could not be more excited.

Come on over to Fluffy Sheep Quilting in the next week or fortnight and have a peek to see the finished version.  Once it’s all polished off, I will hold a giveaway to find a new home for the pattern.  If you like what you see, please do enter!

Thanks, Jenna, for the chance to fill in while you are healing.  Take good care of yourself and come back soon!