Wild Soul in Indie Folk fabrics

Aaaah - it's here!!

Late Friday night, I finished up binding my Wild Soul quilt in preparation to take it with us to Leadville to see a friend ride in a skijoring competition.

It's okay, I'll wait while you google it.

Rad, huh?

Anyway, it was such a fun day! I asked my husband if he wouldn't mind holding up my quilt for a few pictures in front of the mountains on the way home. The views were stunning - I couldn't take a quilt named "Wild Soul" into the heart of Colorado and NOT take a landscape photo, right?!

Except it's March in the high country - the first place we stopped we both sank up to our THIGHS in snow! I was laughing too hard to take a decent photo - Ryan wasn't tall enough to hold the quilt with half of his body buried! The rest of the ride back to the interstate was spent going - "There!! Quick, pull over!! No - there!! Aww, you missed it - there!! Stop stop stop! That looks good!!" But we managed to get some fun pictures, I double checked some math, and without further ado - I'd like to introduce Wild Soul!

A little more about this quilt, since it's a special one and arguably the quilt that helped me find my voice and niche as a designer - 

Wild Soul was a pattern I designed for myself – for the first time, I wasn’t designing for another person or with specific constraints. It was so liberating, honestly, and I enjoyed every bit of letting my creative side just play.

All the while, though, I was still thinking about someone special.

In between the initial sketches and the final seam, my mother and I went on a trip together to Ely, Minnesota. For thirty years, Mom has wanted to go dog sledding – and I was the only person crazy enough to go with her! You see, my mom and I share what my family affectionately calls our “adventure shoes”. They’ve taken us all over the US and beyond, sharing a inner desire to see and do – never rest, never sit down – always planning the next adventure.

Our adventures look very different nowadays – Mom likes to travel in her Volkswagen bus and visit historic places. I like to be on top of mountains and canyons and sleep outside. Not to mention, we are different people! She’s a kind, conservative, rural woman who raised her babies and retired, now running the family business. I’m a liberal, young, suburban wife now, working and living 1000 miles away from the rest of my family. Sometimes, I feel as different as oil and water.

But as I sewed this quilt – this quilt I love – I reflected on our time together in the Northwoods. As we mushed our dog teams together with the biggest smiles on our cold faces I remembered that I am her daughter, and she is my mother. We aren’t as different as it seems at times. Among so many other things, we share a bond deeper than any other I’ve known.

But my favorite thing we share…is our wild souls.

Pattern Details: 

• Jelly roll, fat quarter, fat eighth, or scrap friendly pattern
• Fast and easy chain piecing
• No Y-seams - clever piecing makes this simpler than it looks
• Nested seams for perfect points
• No waste!

Finished size: 63" x 76"

Skill level: Intermediate/confident beginner

Fabric requirements:

• Print - one jelly roll - OR - 11 fat quarters - OR - 22 fat eighths
• Background - 2 3/4 yards
• Binding (assumes 2.5" strips) - 3/4 yard
• Backing (4" extra on all sides) - 5 yards