The Quilt

I've been waiting all year to post about this...

In February I decided to make a quilt for my parents. I went into Vancouver to go to Fabricana with Rawbean so she could help me pick out the fabric. I need her guidance because I tend to lose focus in that store. So these are the fabrics - my mom loves green, yellow and browns so it wasn't too hard.

Rawbean also lent me her cutting mat, straight edge and rotary cutter - thank GOD. Can you imagine cutting all these squares out with scissors?! Not happening.

Then the most fun part was laying out the fabric for the top.

(Keep in mind that I wasn't working when I made this. If I was, I'm estimating it would have taken me approximately 5 years to make this thing. Plus, I totally winged it when it came to the assembly. I planned my moves as they came and only thought one step ahead. Otherwise I would have given up.)

So anyway, next came sewing together all the squares. At first I started pinning the squares together, but realized after the first two squares that this seemed to be a waste of time. Instead I zipped them through the machine two squares at a time, making a long row. Then I added the next row to the one I just did......24 times or whatever. Then I sewed the other way.
After that, I attached the borders...yeah......I tend to over-complicate things. I took an easy detail and made it ridiculously difficult but got it right in the end after going to the local quilting fabric shop and begging the ladies to help me.

After this, honestly - it wasn't much fun - attaching the batting and the back. Do you know how hard it is to get pieces of fabric this big to lay flat, nevertheless three pieces of fabric to sandwich together and be flat?!

I finally ended up taping the top fabric down to the floor, then putting the batting on top of that. Still, it was frustrating and hard and after that it seemed to even take forever to sew everything together.

After this, I tied french knots at every intersection of squares to bind everything together.
I do not hand sew - ever.

I should also mention here that The Bad Room Mate wouldn't leave me alone the entire time. There is a reason he is in a lot of these pictures: wheneverI left the quilt lying around he was all over it. Whether I was putting it through the machine or working with it on my lap, I couldn't get away from him.

Then, in typical Jabba style, I procrastinated until almost the last night before we left for my parents. As Brad predicated in June - I was up panicking the night before trying to finish it.

So now it's done, and I've given it to my parents. We've been sitting next to the fireplace and huddling under The Quilt since Christmas morning because they live in "the frozen tundra" (Saskatchewan).

Seriously, tonight it's -25C.