Dear diary 2006 is my quilt project of the year. Its Dear Jane and journal quilts all rolled into one (very large quilt). The concept is simple: make one small (3″ finished) block a day. Relate something about it, such as the pattern, the colors, or the fabric, to something that happened that day. It might be a quilt project I worked on that day, something significant that happened or a small, random activity, or when nothing else jumps out a me, a favorite block or one I’ve always wanted to try.

String them all together into rows chronologically, and ta-da! a chronicle in quilt blocks of a year in my life. When I started out, my plan was to also write up a line or two about the block and what it meant, but that fizzled out before January ended. Now the blocks themselves are the sole storytellers, and that’s kind of neat (and much less to stress over).

I have completed all of January, except for one block (Cross and Crown) which came out too small. Imagine that! When I first attempted it, I was unsure that I could do it at 3 inches. Lo and behold it came out at an incredibly miniscule 2 inches. I tried to save it by adding a border around the whole thing, but the pieces are so small that it doesn’t read well from even a short distance away.

Most of February is finished. Some of the applique blocks are a bit detailed and I haven’t been in the mood recently to fuss with tiny bits of fabric and even tinier stitches.

March has exactly two blocks completed: an Irish Chain-type for March 2 (that had to do with what seemed like an endless chain of little tasks to complete that day) and a T-block (for my contemplations of becoming a teacher that started that day). Not uncoincidentally, March is when I began blogging and it has taken up quite a bit of my regular quilting time in figuring out how to blog. I don’t foresee that being a problem in future months when I better know what I am doing in the Blogosphere.

What I’ve found to be most efficient is to string piece the daily blocks along with whatever other project I am working on or to save up a few days worth of diary blocks to piece at the same setting. This way I don’t spend my whole time bobbing up and down between the sewing machine and the ironing board. I have to remember to make sure that I write down the block pattern, fabrics, colors, etc. that I want to use for each day’s entry.

Looking back at early diary blocks, I can totally remember the events I made the blocks for and that’s loads of fun. It’s also a great creative exercise–I’ve created quite a few original blocks, some of which I’d like to make a whole quilt out of someday.

When I look at the blocks all together in rows, I really get a sense that each day of my life is unique and precious, not just days of monotony strung one after the other. One small block on its own may be nothing special, but put them all together, they become a magnificent tapestry. Similarly, each day, even a seemingly insignificant one, is part of something amazing–life!

happy quilting!