A quick glance around my sewing room reveals autumn’s influence everywhere. Fall colors are my favorite anyhow, so it’s the perfect time of year to be shaping my Patchwork Selfie project. The warm, rich tones feel simultaneously cozy and lux.

Here’s a bit of patchwork for my autobiographical quilt. I’ve chosen a range of warm berry tones for a color blend from burgundy to peach. The cocoa crosses are cut from a brown Ombre Confetti fabric - how convenient for blending!

See how the cross blocks connect the darker section developing on the left side of my quilt (the stars and flying geese blocks) with the peach Ballet block? That’s what gave me the idea to make it a color blend. The value and color-based blend eases the transition and makes this sampler feel more harmonious.

As I work on this long-term project, I’m also inspired by fabrics I recently purchased from Margreet Otto Quiltwinkel, here in The Netherlands. I went for Anna Maria’s Overachiever in Burgundy and came back with loads more of AMH. No surprise there ;) Several of these have already found themselves into my quilt.

This week I’ve also sewn a few more word blocks. I’m working in my Favorite Things section of the quilt, where symbols for Flowers and Chocolate found a place. You might wonder why I'd create a cursive “F” for flowers, which is surely one of the harder cursive letters to identify. Well, for one - it’s pretty. For another, I like the idea that my children or friends might ask me about this quilt, that it might need clarifying, sparking a bit of story telling along the way.

The “F” is made with braided yarn, to create a thicker line than my usual yarn couching.

I’m quite happy with this pair and the colors especially!

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Now to finish off my Favorite Things section. So far I’ve named books, chocolate and flowers. The list couldn’t be complete without color. color. color. Another opportunity for a bit of color work too!

Even though I’m enjoying this project, making all these words is time consuming. I’d been trying to move along quickly and perhaps that is why I forgot a stabilizing technique when sketch stitching with gold thread to secure these letters. It’s no big deal, but the letters are a bunchier than normal. It led me to pause and evaluate.

I can be a fairly determined person. When I set my mind to something, I tend to meet those goals. I’d aimed to prepare Patchwork Selfie for a 2022 sew-along, and as a result I’ve been pressured to move forward at a pace that would make that possible.

This week I’ve decided against Patchwork Selfie for 2022. It just doesn’t feel right to rush this project, and I don’t want to steal this opportunity from myself to thoughtfully express who I am and enjoy the journey. I’m going to continue with Patchwork Selfie, but without any deadlines. I’ll make it in between other projects, as time allows and just see where it takes me in good time.

Well, close one door and that creates room to open another. As I turns out, I have another idea for 2022 up my sleeve. Haha, of course I do! Wink. It’s a scrappy year-long sew-along, and I can’t wait to share more soon.