A quilt for baby Jocelyn

I sat in front of the sewing machine, palms sweaty, my foot barely reaching the pedal, and my mother standing over my shoulder. My seams weren’t straight and the shirt I sewed didn’t fit. I hated the entire process. I swore I would never sew again.

A decade and a half later (in 2010), I got an unexplainable urge to sew a quilt for a friend’s new baby. Armed with a hand-me-down sewing machine, I turned to the best teacher I know: the internet. I watched YouTube videos and read tutorials for every step. I called my mom and grandmothers more times than I can count.

I bought the fabrics for the quilt at the only fabric store I knew of - JoAnn's. I bought a fabric book panel, coordinating solids, and a stripe. (The book panel was a Daisy Kingdom panel named "Jesus and Me" by Michelle L. Palmer.) I also bought a crib-sized polyester batting and some coordinating Coats & Clark threads.

I cut the book pages apart to be blocks and added the solid fabrics around each page. I did not follow a pattern, just made it up as I went.