completed quilt, golden slumbers

When I'm not off galavanting around the beauties of nature, I am still sewing.

I finished the quilt for dh last weekend, actually, but haven't shown it yet because I was quite distressed about it.

Oh, the binding is PERFECT. Really. It's the most perfect binding I've ever done. The corners? They couldn't be better. The hand stitching to the back? Okay, I'm sure *somebody* could find a flaw or two, but I think it's amazing.

But I washed it and dried it. On hot. And it seems that a blue (or two or three, I can't be sure) was not colorfast. And the color bled. There were three oranges that picked up some blue tint, with one of those orange prints taking the brunt of the hit.

I was quite upset about it for a while. I just spent *HOURS* of time on this quilt, pouring in blood, sweat and tears (really, I did! I poked myself with a pin while handstitching the binding! so that's the blood... the sweat came because it was hot last week here and we have no air conditioning and working with a quilt on your lap is NOT a cool thing... and tears... yeah, they came afterwards)... after all that, the color bleeds and it just doesn't look as vibrant as before.

Now that I've had some time to think about it, maybe it's not as bad as I originally thought. But it's still upsetting. Not that dh will even notice ;)

And then, I made The Most Lovely Pillowcase Ever.

Loosely based on this tutorial: http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2008/07/banish-percale-forever.html

It would be completely based on that, but I'm terrible at actually following directions and I just made up my own measurements ;)

Isn't that dreamy? I'm certain I've slept better since I've had this.

The pinkish fabric is one from Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut line... and the green is from Heather Bailey's Bijoux... and the pink/red stripe? It's some Candy Stripe print, I but I can't remember more than that!

opposites attract

My husband claims I make nothing for him.

Of course he's completely wrong on that. I've made him a pillowcase and a pair of pajama pants (which the dog chewed up).

Wait, that doesn't count for much compared to the oodles of dresses, pants, shorts, shirts, etc., that I have sewn for the girls? I guess not.

As it turns out, his birthday (shh.. his 30th) is next Friday. Last week I had a brilliant idea: make him a quilt.

You know, because quilts are "quick" projects... right? It's something I can throw together in two weeks.

Well, I've just about managed to do it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

One of the best things of this project was it's cost-effectiveness. I purchased the material for this quilt *gasp* at least two or three years ago (yes, see, I'm a lovely wife... I *thought* about making him something... I just never got around to it). I dug out the bag (original bag from the fabric shop, still holding the very same material it came home with) and it still had six half-yards of orange fabrics and six half-yards of blue fabrics.

Why orange and blue? Because they're the colors of his favorite football team -- the Denver Broncos.

But I didn't want to purchase Broncos fabric... I wanted this to be 'classy' (no offense to those who sew with team fabrics).

(sorry, I know most just want pictures, but I'm a story-teller)

While I do love seeing the results of quilting, sometimes it can be challenging for me. Actually trying to follow a real pattern really doesn't suit my personality. I just can't do it. But randomness? Ah, that's right up my alley.

So, I cut out a bunch of 6" squares from the fabrics. Then I sewed them into half-square triangles. And my randomness went to work (all the while I was praying it really WOULD all work out!).

So, I pieced and pieced and pieced (or at least it felt like it... along with not being able to follow a pattern, I easily get bored... I don't have the attention span of a good quilter).

And the result of the piecing? Oh, I love it. It's so much more amazing than I could have hoped for.

I'm always amazed when I finish any project, but especially quiltling ones.

It All. Worked. Out.

All those random fabrics came together and formed *this*! Now really, how amazing is that?

I pinned it all up last night and quilted it also (nothing terribly fancy, but it will work). I thought about at least starting the binding, but it was already 2 a.m. and I couldn't do it.

So I'm hoping to be able to show the finished quilt later today or at least tomorrow.

And, for the record, I finished piecing the top in three days... and during those three days I really didn't a lot of sewing time.. but I got it done and I'm quite pleased. Now, onto the binding!