Quilt #76: A Team en Provence

I have another finish to share with you! This was my first quilt along since a few months after I started quilting. This is Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence. Unlike my previous quilt along, with the mystery quilt, I didn't know the final design. (As a side note, that previous quilt along was my 5th quilt. I have learned SO much since then!)

The mystery clues were revealed starting in November. I blogged about the early steps here, here, here, and here.

I made this finish my February One Monthly Goal. It,feels great to have it finished. When I started it, I wasn't sure who would receive this beauty. But as I got to the end, the person who kept coming to mind is one of my fellow December 08 mamas. I met this amazing group of ladies when we were all expecting. In the past nine (nine!?) years, we have discussed everything together. These women are are some of my closest friends, even though I've only met a few of them in person!

Angie is one of the few I have been lucky enough to meet in person. She is mom to two gorgeous girls, talented crafter, and overall awesome person, who is, unfortunately, going through a bit of a rough patch.

Angie came to mind for this quilt for two reasons, both having to do with all the scrappy pieces that make up the pattern. First of all, we mamas are quick to support our own. Whether death, divorce, illness, or financial troubles, we've faced it all together. I like the idea that this quilt represents all of the mamas and kiddos in our little group. I hope that she feels all our love when she snuggles under it.

The other reason is based on something Bonnie Hunter said. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something to the effect of, "If the fabric is still ugly, you haven't cut it small enough."  I liked all the fabric I used in this quilt, but the idea that God can make something beautiful out of even the ugly things is comforting to me, and I hope it is comforting to Angie, too.

For quilting, I used straight line quilting in the center of the blocks. I used my regular ruler for the first time rather than masking tape. It took a little practice to hold it down so that it didn't move. A friend commented that I should use a free motion quilting ruler. Good thing I have a quilt show to check out this weekend! (I should say, for anyone worried, I didn't have any trouble with my foot skipping over the ruler because I wasn't doing free motion).

I have mentioned before that as I work on a quilt, I pray for the person who will receive it. With this quilt, I was able to do something special. I brought it to my quilt group for show and tell and my lovely ladies prayed for Angie with me.

One last thing about making this quilt. If you follow this blog or my Instagram, you may recall that it was while working on this quilt that I sliced my finger with my rotary cutter. 

It's been nearly 3 months, and I was looking forward to sharing that my finger is fully healed and that my feeling has completely returned. Alas, my accident has one last gift for me. Because I sliced my fingernail as well as my finger, I've been watching the line on my nail move up as my nail grew out. Turns out that it sliced all the way through and now that the sliced part of the nail has grown up to the edge, the fingernail cracked off. Mama, does it hurt! So now my finger is wrapped again until it stops being so sensitive!

So, other than my injury, I really enjoyed doing the mystery quilt. I look forward to making it an annual event. I was too late to join the completed quilt link up, but you can see other En Provence quilts here. 

To see more pictures of this quilt in progress, look for #ATeamEnProvence on Instagram. If you'd like to see what I'm currently working on, follow me at de Jong Dream House.

Linked to:
Craftastic Monday @ Sew Can Do
Creativity Unleashed @ Practically Functional
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hand Quilts
Linky Party @ Tweety Loves Quilting
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion by the River
Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication
NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation
Off the Wall Friday @ Creation, Quilts, Art, Whatever
Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

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