Blue & Brown Quilt

TaDa!!

Look what I made!

This is called the... something.  I can tell you later.  Right now, tonight, late as it is that I type this, its called the Blue & Brown Quilt.  It took me 3 years to complete it.  That’s because it’s a really intricate design, and not at all because I have the attention span of a mouse.  Oh, and the fabric was also really difficult to find.  Nope, I didn’t get any of it at Wal*Mart, nope, not a bit...

Except for most of it.  And, since I’m revealing all here, lets not pretend; they’re rectangles.  I sewed together a bunch of rectangles.  It’s a pretty easy pattern. 

The real reason it took me so long to make this was that I wanted to make it HUGE!  It was going to be a 6x7 grid, instead of the 4x5 grid you see here.  The plan was to make it for our Q-sized bed to replace the Cowboy quilt we’re currently rocking. I bought the majority of this material about a month before my wedding, planning to make it for our first apartment (not to over-emphasize, but that’d be a FAIL).  When I finally did get around to putting it together, I realized that I needed a few more squares, so I needed more fabric.

When I went to look for more fabric, I was devastated to discover that the majority of Wal*Marts had quit carrying fabric.  WHA!?  So, I ventured forth undeterred, and found a fabric shop where they sold fancy fabrics.  I picked out some coordinating colors, and went home.  When I compared the fabrics, can I just say, it makes a difference.  I wasn’t a believer; I wasn’t going to pay that much for basically the same thing I could get at the Wally World, or so I thought! The weight of the fabrics, the tightness of the weaves, its all different.  And worth it, although I still usually buy only sale & clearance pieces.

Anyhow, before this story takes as long to tell as the quilt did to make, I made the huge 42-square quilt top, and then it sat in my closet.  I moved it at least once, maybe twice.  More recently, the trouble has been that I didn’t want to pay for the huge amount of fabric it would require to put the back on.  This weekend, I got stubborn, and decided I was going to finish it, and do it cheap too! 

I got out my trusty seam ripper, and tore that baby apart, then re-sewed some.  When I was done, I had 2 quilt “tops” of 20 squares each.  I bought some batting (the filler material that gives quilts their weight) for about $5.60, and made this quilt with a front on both sides.  I finally got to use some more of the awesome features of my new Brother *some number* sewing machine, and I quilted it, at my own house!  I was so impressed with myself.  Not because I did a kick-butt job, because I didn’t; there are spots of really long stitches, really tight stitches, choppy patterns, the batting is really light (hence the $5 price tag), etc.  But I made it all, all by myself!  That thrills me pretty much to no end.  When I finished this quilt this weekend, I felt like I could do anything!

Handsome was less-than-moved, as one could expect.  His comment was “When will my Clemson quilt be ready?” which, while a perfectly valid question, was not the response I was looking for.  Kind of like when I said “Do I look pretty today” and he answered with “Compared to what?”  That last comment was courtesy of our pastor, who mentioned a few phrases that H. couldn’t resist trying out.  Either way, not the reaction I was hoping for, but it in now way dampened my spirits. 

The next “ToDo” is the Clemson quilt, I promise… unless my little nephew decides to come meet the world earlier than planned.  I mean, I should welcome him into this strange new place with his own little quilt, right??

Conquering the world one quilt at a time,

TFW