If You Dream It, You Must Create It

Earlier this summer, I had a dream about a quilt.  It was a simple construction of  squares of different blue fabrics interspersed with linen blocks of the same size.  Now, I've never worked with linen before as a quilting fabric.  I haven't even seen a linen quilt as far as I know, or at least not recently.  But it felt like I was destined to make it, so I did.  It was what I would call a "low-risk" project-- after all, I have stacks of blue fat quarters, enough dark blue for a back and binding, even a piece of batting that would be big enough.  The only thing I actually had to buy was the linen.  My only concern was how the linen squares would look after washing.  Well, I figured what's the worst thing that happens?  If it looked terrible after washing then. . .

Nemo would get a new blanket












But sorry Nemo, you'll have to wait.  I think it came out nice.  Did it look this way in my dream?  ALMOST.  In my dream I didn't have to run out to the fabric store for a yard of border fabric.  Sorry I didn't get a better shot of it , it's a pretty blue/tan/brown batik that really pulls the whole thing together.  It was a little drab without it.    

The linen definitely wrinkled up after washing, as one might expect.  But I had put free-motion flowers in the center of those blocks, so the wrinkles were kind of around the quilting.

My free-motion skills are still in the beginning stage, so I purposely did the flowers in a thread the same color as the linen fabric.

The linen was interesting to work with.  It was a little difficult to cut accurately, as it tended to wiggle around more than cotton does while cutting.  But it has more stretch than cotton too, so I was able to push it and pull it into shape.  The whole quilt feels a little heavier too, despite using thin Thermore batting.

So instead of being a dog blanket, it will be a wedding gift for friends of ours next month.

What will I dream of next?