I started this quilt last summer (see
here, where my completely unwarranted optimism is hilarious in retrospect.) My problem is once I miss a deadline (like a wedding) my instinct is not to finish it as fast as possible, but to be like, "Oh well. It's already late." And so I end up finishing wedding quilts many months after the wedding. :)
The building in the background is the courthouse in my tiny hometown. I love it. A more skilled photographer could do more with that backdrop, but I was in a hurry. And my mom's arms were tired of holding up the quilt. :)
The recipient was visiting her family in Nebraska, and I got to go see her for her birthday. That spurred a hurry to finish. My best friend helped me baste it, as she is interested in learning to quilt. We accidentally pinned half of it to the carpet and had to re-baste. Rookie mistake. :) Anyway, at the recipient's birthday party, I found out she'd be in Grand Rapids the following week for business. Coincidentally, I also happened to be going to Grand Rapids the following week to visit my boyfriend. This bought me another week to work on the quilt.
And I finally finished it!!!
It's nearly Independence Day, so please enjoy how I went all 'Murica! with this photo, capturing a waving flag with my quilt.
We had lunch together and she loved her new quilt! Just in time for the hottest part of a midwestern summer, of course. ;)
The backing is a Simon + Kabuki print (from the line "Nesting"--not bad for newlyweds, eh?) that I got for super cheap on eBay. I've never ordered fabric from eBay before, and it is a little scary since you don't have some of the assurances you have with other online retailers. And I admit that this did smell faintly of cigarette smoke (urgh) when I got it, but it wasn't overpowering and seemed to dissipate over the year (urgh) that I had it sitting around waiting to back the quilt.
I was very nervous about quilting the stars. I thought I'd use the walking foot, but the idea of all of that turning and shoving the quilt through my machine's throat made me want to cry and throw things. So I marked it and FMQed it. SOOOO much easier. Seriously, it went very quickly and it turned out, if not perfectly, pretty darn good. I did do something very stupid, which was sew around the perimeter of the quilt way too early in the process. It meant that I had no room to ease fabric as I did some of the lengthwise quilting, and there was some bunching and puckers. Oops. Lesson learned.
In other news that makes me feel productive and accomplished, I ground down and refinished my super-cloudy headlights myself and they look AMAZING.
One down, one to go. Or, before and after.
I've had Sebring for 10 years, since I started college. He's 11 years, 151,000 miles young, and is still a champ!
Scary-competent. And try not to covet my socks too hard.
This is long already, but if you are a Google reader person you should switch over before July 1st but you already know this and if you want to use Bloglovin' the link is on the side of my blog etc etc. :)
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Finish It Up Friday, because I finally did, darn it!
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Really cute quilt!!
ReplyDeleteLove your quilt! And hey, better late than never, right? Nice picture next to your car ;) you certainly look like you mean business!
ReplyDeleteYour quilt looks wonderful and it sounds like it was perfect timing in the end!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what I'm more impressed with. The quilt, or the fact you know how to work a power tool! Great job on both ; )
ReplyDeleteThat quilt looks great, love it! And your background is so pretty. For some reason, I am always finishing quilts at the last minute, as in sewing a binding on a quilt on the way to the event. oops.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post! Great job on finishing AND tackling your headlights too! You are multi-talented!
ReplyDeleteLove your quilt! Really like the colors.
ReplyDeleteLove that quilt and so glad you finished it in time. Best yet is that scary yet amazing photo of you - wonderful!!! :)
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