I want to post 100 pictures and tell you a long, winding tale about how this quilt came to be, but I cannot. For the first time in my life, I actually edited one of my creative ideas. The writing should match it, out of respect for how hard I worked to make this quilt “simple”-y beautiful.

2 years ago at the School Auction, I donated holiday baking, and it was a load of fun. But as I looked around at the beautiful items up for bid, and imagining my life post-PTA-Presidency, I knew there was one thing I had to do next: I HAD to make a quilt in our school’s colors and theme. Something not for a bed, but big enough to curl up inside, and partner with a good book (this is a 54″ x 80″, aka a long lap quilt; it’s about the size of a twin comforter). Something not for a girl or a boy specifically, or even for an adult or a child. Something so reflective of our school’s culture, that it would appeal to Preschool through Middle School, Teachers, Administration, Alum…I needed a true “all-arounder”.

I spent just shy of 2 years looking through patterns, throwing out ideas which were too traditional, and others that were too modern. When I stumbled upon the pennant flags in our school colors I knew I had a winner of a theme: PREPPY. As a teenager from the 80’s, I promise, when in doubt, preppy is always the way to go. I ended up using my favorite pattern, “The Boxtrot”, which depending on your color choices, can take on an endless series of appearances. Adding in the alphabet and the embroidered school leaves, along with a khaki cotton border (which is a heavenly finished cotton/linen blend from Japan), I just knew this was “The Quilt”. [All fabrics are from varying lines from Moda, available upon request.]

For the sake of time, I went with a very simple meander. My table broke, so I hired this out, and after the embroidery, this quilt was not just bordering on khaki…it was bordering on becoming the world’s most expensive quilt. Quilts not made on factory machines often cost 4x of those sold at Department stores, but can last for generations if cared for properly. And these heirlooms are worth.every.single.penny.

Alas tomorrow, I let it go. I say goodbye to the School Reading Quilt (or “The Auction Quilt” as it is known at our house), and the warm memories of bringing it to life. 2 years is a long time to think about a quilt, but that’s nothing compared to the decades it will wrap around some scholar’s shoulders as he/she reads, studies, watches movies, recovers from colds, chats with friends…maybe someday, this student will have children, read to them under this very quilt, and that child will also become a scholar at our precious school.

Sorry, I was supposed to keep this short! It’s so exciting for me to see something in my brain for months on end, imagining it down to the very last stitch, and then watch it appear before me, just as I wished it to be: simple, classic, meaningful. Godspeed, and I hope this cold winter finds you wrapped up in a much-loved quilt as well!