A Joint Effort

So, you know how I like to joke that the only thing I learned in college was how to procrastinate? Well, here’s a little story about that.

When I first saw Heather Bailey‘s line “Pop Garden”, it was love at first sight and I decided the only way I could properly capture all the fabrics and get to look at them forever was to make a quilt.

This was my second attempt at a quilt, so I had a bit more experience and lessons learned. However, making a quilt is such a big undertaking that I just knew I was going to end up procrastinating on it at some point. I made it my mission to try and get it done in a timely fashion.

The fabric came (did we mention we live 4000 miles from the nearest fabric shop?), I cut it out promptly.

I sewed and sewed and had the top and backing pieced together in a matter of days. I was so proud.

Then it came time to quilt the thing. I was so in love with my top, I didn’t want to destroy it with my feeble attempts at quilting on my standard machine. Enter my friend Jeremy’s mom, Diane. Jeremy knew about my quilt top and suggested that I send it to his mom to quilt it for me. She has a long-arm machine and way more experience than me.

So, I arranged it with her and mailed it off to Colorado. Not only is Diane super talented, meticulous and precise, but she is generous. She refused to take my money, even though she put hours into quilting the top for me and did a fantastic job! The whole thing is free-hand meandering lines and loops, but it is so perfect you would swear she followed a pattern. And speaking of procrastination, I don’t think she’s ever heard of the word. She got it done in like 2 days. No joke.

Then it was my turn again. I had to bind the thing, which involves a LOT of hand sewing. I just knew I would procrastinate on it. So, one Sunday afternoon I sat down with a needle and thread and started attaching the binding. 5 hours later, I was done. I didn’t watch the girls or make dinner (that’s what husbands are for), I had no feeling left in the tip of my index finger, but I was DONE! I couldn’t believe it! A queen-size quilt made in a reasonable amount of time! A record! Now to take pictures of it and post it on the blog!

Over 2 months later. Yes, it took me a matter of days to make a quilt, and months to take pictures of it. Procrastination gets me every time. If it was only my efforts that had gone into the quilt, I wouldn’t care. But I really wanted to brag on Diane because I couldn’t have done it without her and she did such a perfect job.

My excuse is a good one though: I didn’t photograph it because we’ve been sleeping under it for the past few months! It is exactly the pop of color that our mundane white bedroom needed. Thank you Heather Bailey and thank you thank you thank you Diane!!

(note to sewers:  don’t use “Zag Stripe” to make bias binding.  It doesn’t zag.)

Adrianna