Dream A Little

I had to dream a little when it came to this challenge. I think I had two other ideas for the quilt before I settled on this one. How to interpret the theme dreams - should it be dreams in my sleep, or dreams I have - like what I hope for? Since my sleeping dreams are fairly fractured and rarely make any sense after I've woken up, I decided to go with the other.

It is interesting to me how things often come together at the right time. As I was pondering this challenge theme, I began reading and working through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. My reading has made me ponder how I dream. Well, actually, why I don't. I've come to realize that through the years I've been so busy with family stuff and helping my husband - supporting their dreams, if you will, that I've quit dreaming. Don't misunderstand, I have enjoyed helping them and all that goes with that. I was just surprised to realize that when it comes to dreams, I have a difficult time naming any.

I have this sign above my closet in our bedroom that says "Dream a Little". Obviously, placed there, it refers to sleep dreams. I decided I should use those words in a mini quilt for my quilt room, to be placed on my wall of mini quilts, to remind me that it's okay for me to dream a little.

I used something new to me for the lettering, Crayola fabric markers. The gray was just the color I was looking for, and it didn't bleed at all, not even when I set the color. I'm not sure how it will wash up and may not ever know since this is a wall quilt and may not get washed; at least not often.

For the borders, I had some left over improv scraps from another project, so I stitched them together, cut them into blocks, and sewed them back together. The plan was to use them for another small mini. Then I realized I could rip the two rows apart again, cut the two rows of three in half the long way, and have a border for this mini. Perfect!

But what to do with all that gray space around the lettering? I pulled out a Sue Spargo book of creative stitches, thinking I'd come up with some stitching to use on the lettering. I was thinking maybe it needed something. Then I realized it might be fun to do pick stitching, or seed stitching, around the letters. It all came together when I realized I had a Valdani variegated thread that complimented the border fabrics. A little binge watching while stitching and, voila! What fun!

I'm pretty happy with the way the stitches make the wording pop a little better.

I had this leaf backing in my stash, and the colors coordinated. I used a lime green thread for the straight line quilting in the border. The binding is the same blue Grunge fabric that's in the border.

It's a good reminder for me. What a fun challenge this was. I can't wait for the next!

Wendy