Last Monday, I received an email from a friend, inviting me to a co-worker's birthday celebration on Thursday evening. She's one of my favorite people at my current job, so, of course, I wanted to go. She has also spoken admiringly of another friend of hers who is a maker, so it seemed like she'd be a good candidate for a handmade gift. Off to the stash of completed quilt tops I went!
I chose my Sister's Choice top for her, because, if I were given the chance to choose a sister, I'd choose her. She's fun, supportive, clever, vulnerable, fierce, silly, mischievous, smart - just a great person!
First, I needed a backing, and it had to be something I had on hand because there was no time to go shopping. I love this sun and moon print, but I didn't quite have enough, so I added a strip of dark blue batik. The backing was pieced and the 56" square quilt was basted on Monday night.
Since I didn't have much time, I wasn't going to be able to hand quilt, so I put aside my fear of machine quilting, slapped on the walking foot, and started straight-line, stitch in the ditch machine quilting on Tuesday night, finishing it up on Wednesday night. On Wednesday, I also made the binding (luckily, I had already set aside the fabric to do this and stored it with the quilt top), and stitched it down on to the front.
On Thursday, I woke up early to start stitching down the binding by hand, skipped lunch, and spent two hours after practice and dinner but before the party to get as much done as I could. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough time. I still had one side of binding left, and while I had buried all the thread ends on the top of the quilt, I hadn't yet gotten to the back. I wrapped it up anyway.
She did not disappoint when she opened the present - she seemed to be both genuinely surprised and honored. I reassured her that it was a utility quilt, meant to be used, and then asked for it back so that I could finish the binding and burying the quilting threads.
It is back in her permanent possession now, and I am feeling mighty pleased with myself for FINISHING something. I much prefer hand quilting, and I am infinitely better at it (it is HARD for me to consistently quilt in the ditch by machine - why? It's just a straight line, for goodness sakes!), but I feel empowered knowing that I can finish something with some simple machine quilting in a pinch.
I'm linking up with
Oh Scrap and
Monday Making.
