Mama Quilt #5: Kristen Mauss

My most recently completed mama quilt was, I think, the most difficult. Going in, I didn't anticipate this fact at all. Kristen is one of my oldest friends; in fact, she was my very first friend at Western. We lived on the same floor, five doors away. After my first college class ever, I headed back to my room and along the way I came across her open door. I popped my head in, we chatted for a bit, and I decided I liked her. Since college is all about turning over a new leaf, I promptly said, "Would you like to be friends?" No sense in beating around the bush right? She laughed and agreed and we've been friends ever since.

If I had to describe Kristen Mauss as a literary character, without doubt or hesitation, I would tell you she is Jane Bennett, the elder sister of Miss Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice. She is kind and gentle and hands-down the easiest person in the world to be with. I've never heard her speak ill of another person (just like Jane) and she is rarely, if ever, frustrated to the point of exasperation (quite unlike myself). She is a friend in any and all circumstances (not to mention with just about everyone) and no matter how long it has been since you've spent time with Kristen, you can always pick up just where you left off. There is simply no better quality of friend.

But the trouble was, how to express all these lovely qualities in a quilt? That was a stumper. Such a stumper, in fact, that I started an entire quilt, got almost the whole top done, then dumped it and decided to start over. It simply wasn't right. It was a beautiful light turquoise-y pool-ish color, and I liked that, but the design and other fabrics were all wrong, wrong, wrong. So, I stuck with pool as the main color (mostly because Kristen told me she really liked that color and wanted it to be said color) but instead of pairing it with soft, subtle colors to compliment the pool, I decided to juxtapose it with several bold, funky, and interesting fabrics. Thus the companion fabrics don't all necessarily go together, but they DO create an interesting contrast to and pairing with the pool.

In this quilt, Kristen is the pool fabric; the backbone of the quilt and the foundation of the design. She meets each and every person (fabric) exactly as they are and creates a complimentary palette. She draws out what is beautiful in each fabric and together they make a fabulous design. The pattern is steadfast and consistent, but the effect is surprising and delightful as it draws your eye from block to block, throughout the whole quilt. It's trendy and bright, yet patient and warm.

I'm not as confident that the final result feels as Kristen and I thought Holly's quilt felt Holly...but I'm pretty sure I still got it right (and Andi told me she felt it was very Kristen, so I'm going to go with that). My only real hope is that Kristen loves it and knows just how much I love her.

I don't always name my quilts, but if I had to give this one a title, I'd call it "The Jane Bennett" in honor of Kristen.