This month I came up with a plan. I'm not usually a planny type. I mean, I like to make them, but then they generally make me feel trapped and uncreative. I write a list of what I need to do today, and then suddenly I don't feel like doing a thing on it. So I've been spending the last several months stitching around 8 hours a day, hoping to heck my fingers don't suddenly give in, with this general kind of goal to have all the things finished yesterday. It's the kind of pressure that keeps me motivated, but it's only sustainable for so long.

So I needed to make a plan that would trick me into feeling like there was no plan at all, but would still bring an element of peace to this crazy heart. Want to hear it? Finish two, start one.

What do you think? Personally I think it's brilliant. After years of writing lists, goals on calendars, 'Start nothing new' months which I always fail, I think I may have finally struck on something that frees up my creativity, rather than hinders it, while keeping my creative spirit from completely overwhelming me with a mountain of projects. Every time I want to start a new quilt, I have to finish 2 first. Of course, I do feel a certain sense of unease. I don't trust completely to stick at a new regimen. But I really, really hope it's just the right balance of freedom and self-control that will mean one day I might even empty my WIP box! And emptying my WIP box isn't even really the goal. Just maintaining a healthy sense on confidence about the projects I'm working on. Too many and I start to feel like I'm drowning.

The reason I feel excited about this, is that my Splashback quilt, English Paper Pieced from rectangles, is my second recent finish (my first was a magazine project that I can show you in the New Year) and I have some new pretty fabric arrived just today that I'm busting to cut into!

But first, a little more about my quilt! I found this design on Pinterest in the form of bathroom tiles, which is where I find most of my inspiration these days. I love that tile designs have not been created to avoid y-seams or be made into simple blocks, and they are often extremely simple and beautiful in their colour palette. So I often, while scrolling through tile patterns, feel inspired to give something my own twist. And when I saw Printshop by Alexia Marcelle Abegg for Cotton & Steel arrive in shops, I was immediately drawn to the simple palette and range of prints, and picked it out for this design. The resulting 'fiesta' kind of feel was a surprise to me. I wasn't expecting confetti, but I love it. This simple design creates so much movement and it makes me want to see it in big florals and rich colours.

I backed it with some leftover fabric of Anna Maria Horner's Mod Corsage that I had leftover from making some quilts for Free Spirit earlier in the year. Everything else I tried made it look even more busy, and I wanted something to steady it. I do love the contrast in style. It was actually the thing that made me decide to keep this quilt, that piqued my interest enough to want to take it in longer. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying having this on my couch.

I showed a video on Instagram of how I stitched this one together, along with more of my progress under the tag #splashbackquilt if you'd like to see! (edit: Thanks for the questions here and on IG regarding size! It's 38" x 43" and used 276 1.5" x 4.5" rectangles!)

Now on to the next one, which was inspired by Arabic tiling designs! Can't wait to show you!

Splashback Quilt