Ta - Dah.....

I'm going to be quite honest about this quilt....I had my doubts during the making.  Just after I had sewn all the squares together I laid it out on the bed and my head just went...."Little House on the Prairie" and I sort of fell out of love with it a little bit and had those looming thoughts of "WT*"!! yes, that's exactly what went through my mind!

I persevered and I had this little gem finished in 3 days.  I worked damn hard, and when sewing all the 3 layers together I did throw a bit of a tantrum at one stage and threw the thing on the lounge room floor where it stayed for an hour or so.  I did contemplate a bin bag for it....that sewing process just seemed to take forever.  Anyway it's done and I couldn't be more happy with it.

The pattern came from here, and it was the easiest pattern to follow, although I did make a small change.  In the end I went for an all patterned quilt and replaced the single block colours with more patterned squares.....I just liked it a wee bit more than the solid squares.

Now that the quilt is on the bed after a good hot wash over at the laundrette, and tumbled in the hot dryer. The quilt being 100% cotton (all the fabric, cotton batting in between the two layers and the sewing thread) not an ounce of polyester in sight.....it has shrunk slightly and the squares have smooshed up, the colours have mellowed and the quilt has softened up amazingly.  I'm so pleased with it and I'm already planning the next one......and my brand new sewing machine didn't miss a beat, she is a beauty I must say!

At this stage I really did start freaking out.....this was my WT* moment!

Laying the 3 layers out on the floor and pinning every second square was also a task that took an amazing amount of time....taking them out after all the sewing was complete, took just as long!

It was somewhere around here that I started swearing a hell of a lot!  In the end I had to remove everything off the side table and just spread myself out.....made things a lot easier instead of trying to sew on a little bit of end table.

And it had to have a label on it.  The edging was all machine sewn, but with slip stitching into place on the back of the quilt....I'm glad I went with the less patterned border in the lighter colour, I think it was a good choice in the end.

I did throw the quilt on the bed this morning before taking it for a washing.  I was still having second thoughts about it at this completed stage.  It wasn't very soft nor pliable, I really didn't have any feeling for it ...anyway I bundled it up and over the road I trotted to the laundrette where the lovely ladies just marvelled at it....I gave them the washing instructions and they did look at me in horror when I told them it had to go in a hot dryer to shrink it!!  "Are you serious" was the comeback..."All that beautiful work and you want to shrink it?".....I then told them with 100% confidence and fingers crossed behind my back, that they would love it even more afterwards.....secretly trying to convince myself as well. 

And this is what happens.....every little square shrinks.  The whole quilt goes all prune like and the colours amazingly mellowed right down, and the lovely laundromat ladies told me it was the most beautiful item they've ever washed!!

Anyway, this is what you end up with.

I do love it now......I pass the bedroom on the way through to the bathroom and I just look at it and smile.....I made that,  it feels like a great sense of achievement.....having made so many things for other people, it's nice to have something just for me.

Night, I've got knitting to get back to. Vic x.