Not one but two

Finishes that is!

So as I've been going on and on about, I promised my sister a quilt last Christmas.  Each year I make one person in the family a quilt and it was her turn last year.  (No one got one this year...)  Anyway, I let her choose the fabric she wanted and she went with the Chelsea line from Windham Fabrics. (I found some still on Etsy.)  My sister's style is somewhere between traditional and modern.  Meaning she likes clean lines and bold colors, but she also likes symmetry and objects with a lot of visual weight to them.  Does that make sense?

 Anyway, I looked through the book Cozy Modern Quilts by Kim Schaefer and decided to go with The Carousel Lap Quilt.  After looking through my stash and weighing some options, I decided to border the rectangles with a dark purple cotton sateen that I had from JoAnn.  Mistake.  I didn't have enough and have been fighting to get enough ever since.  They were consistently out of it when I'd head to the big city and check and then I got what I thought was enough and ended up being probably half of a yard too short in the end for the back and binding.

The quilt top went together with no real problems other than the trip to buy more purple.

So I decided to just piece together the back out of the leftovers from both the fat quarter bundle and the purple.  It was more abstract and not her cup of tea necessarily, but for the back...

And then I ran out of purple and couldn't get my hands on anymore.  So after delaying for some time, I whined incessantly mentioned my problem to Chris and he said "Why don't you just use something else for the back?"  And when I said "But I've already got this back made what am I going to do with it???"  He said "Why can't you just make 2 quilts??"  Ummm....duh!  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  Yes, he's the logical one in our marriage.  Yes, he pays the bills and keeps us all in line.  I thank God for him every day.

So, I ran off to Walmart, bought a tan colored sheet (the options were limited to say the least) and let it sit till Christmas was over.  But in the last week, I've run to Walmart for another sheet, basted both quilts, struggled with quilting top #2 and finally decided to hand quilt it.  I got over my fear of machine binding and went for it on both quilts.  For the original quilt top I machine quilted curved lines going across the quilt in both directions.  It's not what I originally had planned--but with this one, all original plans went out the window.

So...this experience taught me:
1.  How to just go with it.
2.  How to improv piece a back quilt top.
3.  How to hand quilt.
4.  How to machine bind.
5.  How to make a year overdue present okay because you doubled it!

I dropped off both quilts to my sister today and I think she really liked them.  They are very different, but different is good.  One appeals to her sense of order and direction.  It's neat and set in a pattern.  One is crazy and thrown together, but the quilting is whimsical and stylized.  And now she and her hsuband can cuddle in matching blankets on the couch!  haha

I'll leave you with a certain little hand waving bye.  He can't help it--he's a total ham.  ;)

I'm glad to have this project done and where it should be.  With my sister.  May it bring her comfort on a cold night or when she needs reminding how much we love her.  May it lead to a year filled with many finishes for me and an empty WIP basket.  ;)  A girl can hope anyway...