The things we carry

He made me promise.
"One for you."
"Yes. I promise."

I bought the pattern - 'Bricks and Stones' in her parlance, 'the white librarian' in mine, and after resizing and redrafting, I knew it was time to do something unusual.

['The "White Librarian" — plans']

For the most part, I've been a responsible purchaser of fabric. I buy what I need, I use it for its intended purpose, and anything left gets Available For Scrap Quilt Goodness status. Notice I said "for the most part." There have been exceptions, though. Some fabrics were repeatedly considered for quilts, but every time, I shook my head and put them aside. Some had prints that were too large, but some were so special  that I just couldn't bear to cut into them.

"Next time," I'd say. There would be a mythical Perfect Quilt, I told myself, and when I had it, I'd know it was time to cut into some of those fabrics I kept setting aside.

There is no Perfect Quilt, though, and I know it. When I drafted the pattern, I looked at the huge blocks of color on the outside of the pattern and I knew 'White Librarian' was time to spend what I'd been saving. My first step was to pull out fabrics that came from one of two categories:

- fabric given to me as gifts
- fabric I couldn't bear to cut into

['The things we carry tell much about us']

In quilting, you don't often get to cut 8.5" squares of single fabrics. You can feature bits and snippets, flashes of color and shape, but rarely do you get to showcase large-scale prints. In this quilt, I'm going to use them all.

['The things we leave behind']

That's my promise to myself for this quilt: if I pull out a fabric and it gives me a pang at the thought of it being gone forever from my stash, I will cut from it, and cut generously. I am more likely to put beautiful fabrics in my gift quilts if I get to keep a small amount for myself.

['Take what is precious and leave the rest']

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