All Buttoned Up!

Yes, the quilt is all buttoned up.  Thanks to sweet Barbara's idea to put buttons on it, I had enough motivation to continue and finish the darn thing Little Princess's quilt.

I spent, oh, I don't know, 5 hours yesterday in my basement making and sewing on the binding.  As I did it, I thought that a good blogger would be taking step-by-step pictures.

I'll never be that good of a blogger.  I just wanted it finished and you'll just have to be content with the finished product.  I am.

Princess got to pick a couple of special buttons to go on it.  The 'I Heart U' is in the center of the quilted flower in the center square in the center of her bed.  And when I say "center" I mean that in the loosest possible sense of the word.

Despite its flaws, I love the binding.  I made it from scraps of the flannel that I used for the back.  there is no rhyme or reason to it; I didn't think about it at all.  In fact, most of the scraps were already sewn together because the back had been too big, so I just sewed those together and made sure they were all 4" wide strips.

There's no rhyme or reason to the backing, either.  I just pieced together big chunks of flannel.  I think that side is really cool, except a little flaw that will probably keep me from ever flipping it over voluntarily.

It's not perfect by anyone's standards, least of all mine.  There are lots of things I don't like about it, but it was meant to be a fun and utilitarian project that would replace LP's worn-out comforter, and a vehicle for me to learn about quilting.  It's not a quilted work of art; I don't think most of our fore-mother's quilts were showpieces.  They were just way of keeping the family warm with what they had.  That's what this is.

It hasn't been my most fun project, but I accomplished my goal, and it is cute.  I'm not sure when I'll tackle a project like this again.

I really, really, like the hand quilting.  In fact, I'm very proud of that part of the quilt.

I'm not crazy about piecing (or cutting out patches!).

Binding was kind of a cool project, but I'd like it better with a walking foot on my machine. That is definitely a priority before I ever embark on another quilting project!

I'd also like to know how people baste the layers together without an empty room big enough to lay out the quilt!

So, after 10 months, it's done.  LP loves it.  It's soft and snuggly.  And I can move on to other things.

It's rainy and dreary here.  Again.  I hope your day is soft and snuggly.