The Daily Joy Quilt

Last week was the first time I ever found myself in my studio, staring blankly at my stash of fabric and thread – unable to get started on ANY project. My cousin suggested, create small things…and so began my new daily routine. Each day, one 6” square featuring something that brought joy to my day in this new reality.

It was an enormous help that I already had a giant stack of pre-Mistyfused fat quarters – Windham Fabrics’ luscious Lava Solid batiks – and lots of coordinating Aurifil thread. Pre-Mistyfusing fat quarters before putting them in your stash is always a good idea!

So, each day: cut a 6 1/2” square of batting and backing (I’m using all Windham Bedrock fabrics for the back so, if joined together in one quilt, my piece will be a happy riot of color blocks ;)!). Decide the theme…my first was my beloved red coffee pot, so a relatively light green seemed a good background.

These are each very low risk! Play with colors…take a black & white photo to check for contrast…and have fun.

For objects with more detail, it can be helpful to turn your photo into a line drawing, then print on Bunny Paper and transfer the design. For simpler forms, you may decide to free-cut.

I like to fuse the background fabric into the batting sandwich, then add the object and fuse. (For complex items such as the daffodil, I “built” it on my Goddess Sheet, then fused to the background.) Quilt the object first, then quilt the background- this is a great way to try out different fill stitches. I chose bubbles for my coffee cup, a small leaf lasso for my daffodil, and so on.

For small details, fabric ink pens or Posca paint pens are very helpful. The paint pens make perfect sprinkles! When finished, trim to 6” and finish with a simple zigzag stitch. (For Bernina users, this is a perfect time to use that 2a foot to tame the edges – I love it!)

Stay safe and have fun 💜