No rest for the weary

I finished this semester with flying colors. I got A's and, as I've said to a few people, I'm not only proud, I'm gratified. I worked hard, and it paid off. Also, at the suggestion of both of my teachers, I'm submitting my Early American Lit. project to the UIS Webposium, a symposium designed to showcase the research done by online students. So I've been working on preparing my project for submission and turned it in today.

I've also been working on Halle's quilt. I began this project about a year and a half ago, maybe even two years ago. Halle's baby bedding (and Chloe's too, since they used the same set) was made for her by my dad's girlfriend using a fabric I'd really liked for years. That sounds weird to say I really liked a fabric for years, but it's true. I first discovered this fabric at a church breakfast. Someone had cut squares of it to lay over bread baskets in the middle of the tables, and when the function was over I took one of the squares (with permission). When asked to pick out fabric for the baby bedding, I chose this same plaid. Because the bedding was so personal, I hated to just sell it in a garage sale or consignment shop so I decided to make a quilt out of it. Like I said, this was a couple of years ago, and I've been working on the thing off and on ever since.

About a week ago, unable to just return to normal life, I decided to work on the quilt a little bit more, and discovered I was very close to finishing the project, so I did. Again, I'm very proud and gratified. This is the first major thing I've ever sewed, and anything else I've sewed was done during the same time period.



The cross of plaid squares is the fabric I told you about.















Another shot of the quilt. If you look closely, you'll notice I used a zigzag stitch for the quilting. This is one of those nitpicky details that took a long time to figure out. Halle and I decided and debated (and disagreed) about which stitch to use here. I won.

Zigzag stitch.











The binding. In its previous, baby-bedding life, the binding served a similar purpose. That little detail made my life much easier, as all I had to do was splice sections to make it long enough for the quilt and sew it on.



The back of the quilt.











The quilt in context. Halle's seen the progress of this project, and she helped me pick out the backing fabric, but she hasn't seen the completed quilt. I'm going to wrap it and put it under the tree. (The paint colors were inspired by the fabrics in the quilt. I think almost every paint color I've ever picked was inspired by fabric. Maybe this helps explain the fabric fetish mentioned at the beginning of the post.)


Did I mention I'm proud and gratified?


("We're very proud and happy. We're thrilled.")