The first time I saw the pattern cover for Jen Kingwell’s Small World quilt, I recognized the iconic facade and Mary Blair’s design for the Small World ride at Disneyland and I knew I would end up making this quilt.

I was asked to teach the quilt over a series of months for my local quilt shop and that seemed to be the perfect excuse to dive right in. I knew I wanted my small world to be very scrappy and very colorful, much like the ride I remembered from my childhood. You see, this was my all time favorite thing to do at Disneyland. I remember the summer we lived in LA, my mother went on that ride multiple times with me and every time, I was just in awe of the colors and the music as our little boats followed the lazy river through the ride. I still can hear the music in my head.

The quilt is actually put together in sections, then those sections are joined so that you can focus on one area at a time. That fit nicely into a class setting, we devoted each month to a different section in the quilt. The sections are numbered right to left, so we worked the quilt in that order with the upper left corner being the last section to complete.

As happens with that kind of class, I kept up with the students, and after our last class, I did not go back and join my sections, rather it all languished in a box for a few years. Last summer, some friends started talking about the pattern, and I spoke up, noting that I had one that was almost completely finished. That was the prompt I needed to get it out, get the sections assembled and quilt it.

The quilting is nothing elaborate, I chose a pattern that would look like clouds and wind in the sky areas, but would rather disappear in all the intricate piecing of the building section. I am not a custom quilter, I never will be, and I was much more interested in getting this quilted so that it did not spend another 4 years in a box in my sewing room and I’m so glad I made that choice.

The quilt now hangs on the wall in my sewing room behind the long arm. It is the first thing I see when I open the door and turn the lights on, and every time it brings back some wonderful memories of my mother. I am so glad I made this quilt and while it is not a bed sized quilt (very out of the ordinary for me) I’m so very glad I made it and have it on display to enjoy.

Next week, I’m going to take a look at another mystery quilt that I did in 2020.