Of all my craft hobbies, I think I get the most questions about quilting. I get it. Quilts are amazing. We get to use color! They are guaranteed to fit! They take a long time! (But not too long of time!) They can become heirlooms! But they are the best type of heirloom because they are meant to be used.

My first quilt was queen-size patchwork quilt for our bed. It was 2010 and Paul and I were newly married and living in downtown San Diego. The quilt was teal, yellow, gray and white (like I said, the year was twenty-ten; everything in our apartment was those four colors). I sewed another queen size quilt about six months later. (This one was more muted in color; I was growing up). In the 15 years since I have made probably 20 more quilts. Some have been for work. Some were given as gifts. (One was another queen-size for our bed when I was in my black and white era.)

I currently have 11 quilts that I consider my “quilt collection.” They are all (roughly) 45×60 inches because it’s the perfect size for a couch quilt, it’s a standard cotton batting size and it’s manageable amount of fabric to get through my sewing machine. Four of them I bring out in early November and we keep on the couches through Christmas. Four of them are out on the couches the rest of the year. One has been given over to the cat basket. And two were made for my daughters while I was pregnant (those currently sit in the closet).

I took photos of each and am sharing them in the order they were created. What struck me as I went through these images is how some things stayed the same (I have always loved a stripe binding) and how some things have changed (for 11 years I only backed in a solid color fabric…now I can’t imagine the backing not being a floral print).

So let’s take a little stroll down quilt memory lane. I am excited to share more about one of my favorite collections.