a 2008 quilt is finally finished!

It seems rather appropriate to have just finished this quilt, just in time for my 2 year blogiversary, since it’s one of the very first quilt tops I made. This happens to be another one of those quilts that I started way back when (according to the original post about this quilt, that would be in August of 2008), long before I actually knew anything about quilting. If I recall, I saw some version of this quilt on Flickr and decided I should make one. I wanted a scrappy quilt, so I used one piece of each fabric I owned at the time (I ended up having to buy a few scrap bags so as to not duplicate any!)

I do specifically remember that I wasn’t sure this sewing thing was going to stick, so I was really against investing in all the “quilting tools” which would have made my life easier. (Morgan finally talked me into a tiny cutting mat and a teeny tiny rotary cutter).

At this point in time I would look at a piece of fabric and would have absolutely no idea how to go about cutting it – either in a straight line, or in any shape I might want (even a simple shape like these rectangles!). I had my brother come over and cut several rectangular templates for me out of a file folder. Then I used my teeny tiny rotary cutter to cut around this paper template. The template got smaller and smaller as I kept trimming little slivers off each side (oops!). I convinced myself that wouldn’t really matter in the end, so I just kept going. Of course, we all know how that ended, right?

After I started sewing the rows together it clearly wasn’t lining up correctly and I got a little tired of it. I put it away for a while and then periodically pulled it out and considered finishing it. Each time I pulled it out I remembered why I hadn’t finished it. I was pretty convinced I wasn’t going to finish it and I almost cut it apart to get a few pieces of my favorite fabrics back.

Fast forward to about a month ago. I pulled it out (again!) and decided that it deserved to be finished. If for nothing else than to remind myself about how I started. So it’s done, and while it’s certainly not one of my favorites, I’ve decided to embrace it in all its wonkiness! And speaking of wonky, want to see that part?

Oh, here’s some!

Oh, and here’s a little more wonkiness… (and yes, those little slivers are supposed to be full rectangles. In order to square the quilt I ended up just hacking the bottom off!)

But if nothing else, this might show you how a little quilting and a trip through the washer and dryer can make things look a lot better. And once it’s all rumpled on the couch I don’t even notice how it doesn’t line up correctly!