Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A YEAR in the Making





Seriously, yes, this quilt took me a YEAR to finish. I was debating for the longest time about whether or not I was going to divulge that little tidbit. It is pretty darn embarrassing. This was my first "real size" quilt and really not a difficult one. I seem to remember piecing the top in a weekend last winter and started on the quilting right away but for some odd reason or another just stalled. I'm really not sure what it was that forced this project to languish for so long. Every now and then I would feel guilty, pull it out and quilt a few lines. Then it would go back in the corner and be forgotten about for another few months. With a resolution of finishing everything I start this year this project was at the top of my list. And once picked up, it only took a few days to finish. The quilting was almost done and the binding was the biggest hurdle to completion. I think that's probably part of my inability to finish this darned thing... I was TERRIFIED of the binding. While it was the most difficult part of the whole thing for me, it really wasn't that bad. Yes, it was time consuming and tedious but a few movies later and it was done. And I'm so glad it's done. I absolutely love it, in all it's wonky, crooked, wrinkledness. It's so, so far from perfect but that's what I love about it. And to make it even better, the very moment I put the last stitch in the binding it was snatched away by a very happy 4 year old and put to immediate use. Seriously, the new "blankie" didn't leave her side all night. It was used as a play mat, a booster seat, a pillow and a cape. It really doesn't get any better than that and what excellent motivation for finishing the rest of those projects gathering dust. Okay, enough babbling, here's the details:

Stacked Coins Quilt from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts (supposedly a 8-12 hour project, FUNNY)
Size: Approx. 52in x 65in (Perfect for a little person)
I used an old sheet with a really cool circle pattern on it for the background (you can see the pattern the best in the second photo), and used a mix of new and vintage fabrics for the coins. The back is a super soft, fleecy fabric that was a little tricky to quilt and even trickier to bind because of it's thickness. I hand-quilted this beast and made my own binding from leftover fabric from the coins.

Now for the next quilt... The same year I started this quilt I received the kit for making the Color-Wheel Quilt from the same book. Maybe I'll wait a little while to tackle that one!

Thank you so much for all of the incredibly kind comments and well-wishes on the Giveaway post. You are all just awesome and each and every comment means so much to me! If you haven't already entered the giveaway you have until Thursday 6PM Central. I'll announce the winner this coming weekend.