Bloggers Quilt Festival-Spring 2011

The Bloggers Quilt Festival is being hosted by Amy's Creative Side (click on the button above if you want to be transported there ala Star Trek) this week. If you're one of my regular awesome blog readers  you'll know every quilt I make comes with a story that usually involves triumph over tragedy. There's usually pathos and comedy and some swearing chucked in as well. This quilt story is my own personal version of The Pursuit of Happiness.

Sometimes there's nothing like bringing a quilt finish down to the wire.Clearly I thrive on tight deadlines and a good dose of stress.  Bloggers Quilt Festival started yesterday and I finished this quilt at  5.00 pm Central Australian Time today.  A year in the making - it's finally finished...albeit without a label. What's even cooler is that for most participants it isn't even 5.00pm Saturday yet so many of you are reading a post about a quilt that doesn't actually exist in your parallel universe and has yet to be finished in your future.  ...Yep I'm messing with your mind.

I started this quilt as part of a Snowball quiltalong last May . The QAL fizzled out after a few posts and in  August my resolve fizzled after all the blocks were cut and sewn. I sent the quilt to the naughty corner (which is actually a deep dark cupboard in my sewing room )  and ignored it. It had plenty of company.  It sat lonely and forgotten for the next 8 months.  I'm good at ignoring stuff I don't want to deal with. I'm a mother.

 

Somewhere along the way I convinced myself the quilt was possessed and that I didn't like it. That meant I felt Ok about ignoring it because after all who wants to touch something that's possessed by Quilting Goblins.  Eventually  I sucked it up and stuck it on my PhD list and vowed to finish it by June 30th. Miss P spied the forlorn quilt bits in March and fell in love with the fabrics and I finally had a reason to finish it because constant nagging really makes my head ache.

 

The next phase was not without incident .  I swore and hated this quilt  some more when I realised I didn't have enough matching backing by a mere 10 inches. Quilter's stashitis saved my arse. I knew having a sewing room with 3456 yards of fabric would come in handy at some point.

With the top finished I still wasn't convinced that this quilt could ever be gorgeous  (or in my ability to make it look pretty given my rudimentary quilting skills- FM quilting and I have yet to develop a warm and cordial relationship ) So off to the quilter this quilt was sent. In music and theatre circles it isn't over till the fat lady sings. With quilts- it's never over until the quilting and binding are done. That's when the magic happens.

It arrived home this afternoon and I love it.  I finished the binding and I present to you "Snowballs in Hell" , because that's about as much chance as this quilt had of being finished a year ago.

My only regret is that this quilt is promised to Miss P - who is now pressing her luck by insisting I also make her jam donuts. Maybe we can organise a trade- donuts for the quilt? I mean after all I gave birth to her - what more does she want?