Don't Worry, Be Happy

by Robin Wilkinson
(Jackson, MS, USA)

Bonnie Johnson, my bff, taught me to make this type of quilt in 1986. No planning, no pattern. It's scary the first time! What if you get to the edge and it doesn't match! I had been planning all my quilts extensively, making paper charts, worrying over the fabrics, trying to make everything perfect.

After making a couple of these, I realized that fifty years from now, no one will say "wow, look how perfect!" Nor will they say, "look, that corner is not square". What they will say is "look at the sweet old fabrics and the cute animals." So conquering both my fear of quilting without a plan and trying for perfection, I have gone on to make more quilts to cuddle more babies and had more fun. Thanks Bonnie!

I bought the animal embroidery patterns from Urban Threads. Nianh's designs are known for modern edginess, and I thought maybe I couldn't find enough that were suitable. Wrong! After a first pass through her site, selecting every one that might work, I had twice too many and it was hard to choose just nine.

Then starting with the green fabric, Baby's 2nd Step, I purchased the pink dot and pink stripe and a few fat quarters to go with it. Some leftover strips from previous quilts filled in the rest. After making the center squares using Heat'N'Bond, I sewed about 2 strips all around each one. Then spacing them out on the bed in approximately a square, I filled in each gap and added strips until it was quilt sized.