First I present to you 4 reasons why it took so long to finish this quilt:
1 - After I finished the top oh so many months ago, I had to figure out where it was getting quilted. I debated bringing it back to my old shop, but ultimately decided that this was one I wanted to do myself. After I made that decision, I was slowed down by ...
2 - Craft room renovation! I've been fed up with the lack of space in our laundry room, and all the extra space in my craft room was leading to less-than-stellar organization, so we did a major makeover and converted the craft room into a craft/laundry room.
Before:
During:
After:
I LOVE the new space! These pictures really don't do it justice, but this was a seriously awesome change.
3 - Fusible batting is the devil. To be fair, I've only tried one kind and other brands may be better, but the one I tried was a huge disappointment. It didn't fuse like it was supposed to and therefore didn't stay in place properly, which lead to having to take out several lines of quilting to try to fix wrinkles and bumps.
4 - I can't work on just one project at a time - I don't think I know how. I'm currently planning a baby shower, getting ready for Relay For Life (which is in ONE WEEK!), gathering quotes for building a porch/patio, and working on making some transitions at work. So ... little busy.
But the quilt is done. Ta da! :)
It is soft and snuggly and not even remotely perfect. But it was never about perfection with this quilt. This quilt is about how sometimes there are complete interruptions to life and things don't go as you plan but you can still make something beautiful out of it all anyway. It is about the wrinkles and bumps that will happen along the way and the things they cause you to learn that you might not have otherwise. It is about wearing those visible imperfections as badges of honor of everything you've come through, even though you sometimes just want to hide them. It is about the journey, about getting knocked down and struggling but coming out the other end standing tall.
Truly, this quilt is about being braver than we expect, and I couldn't be more proud.
