whew! i survived

Alright. Remember the big, big, big, project that was scaring the bejeebers out of me? Well, I finished! And I'm still alive to talk about it. I even learned a thing or two along the way. This project took me waaaaay outside my comfort zone.


You may have guessed the nature of the project from the sneak peak ~ or maybe I was successful in keeping you fully in the dark. I made Aiden's baby bedding. Oh my gosh was this ever a daunting project. Suzanne wasn't finding any ready to buy bedding she liked in the store, so she wanted to commission custom bedding. During our early conversations she was wondering who she could have make this cute stuff. I tried to brainstorm that right along with her, thinking of who I knew that could do this kind of thing because I surely wasn't offering up my mediocre skills.


Then a coworker of ours approached me and mentioned that I should do the baby's bedding. Wha? Me? No, no, I'm not a professional. Then the idea ate away at me and all of a sudden I found myself telling Suzanne I'd do it if she wanted. (Um, thanks, Sharon!)


So we talked a little about what she wanted. She gave me the fabric she had already purchased. Then it sat. And sat. And sat. Finally one day I told her we needed to shop for the rest of the fabric. It took me a while to start this baby. And then a while to finish. Good thing it takes nine months (well, almost this time) to incubate a baby! But overall, I think all the pieces turned out pretty nice. I followed a pattern for the bumper pads and bed skirt. Suzanne said she wanted the square block motif for the quilt, but I figured out how to do that one on my own. I also designed and figured out the valence and the pillow. Can I tell you, the pieces I like the best in the bunch are the ones I figured out myself.


This was my first real quilt ever! In the late 80s, my mom paid for me to take quilting classes to keep my mind and hands busy while I was trying to get over a boy. So I know the basics of quilting (although I never finished that wall hanging I was making). I even know how to hand quilt. I used to be a purist and never thought I'd machine quilt anything. Ha!

So I didn't walk into this empty handed in the knowledge area, but I'd never completed a quilt project, never done a binding, plus never attempted anything of this size. But, I couldn't stop there! I upped the ante by deciding that I didn't want to do the binding the way you normally do it. I wanted to try something new, something I'd learned how to do to finish skirts. It worked!


You can't really tell from this picture, but the bed skirt has box pleats.


So I repeated that in the 'ruffle' on the pillow.


Now that I'm feeling very accomplished with this little quilt, I'm wanting to do another quilting project. I'm thinking a smallish table runner kind of thing. Maybe I'll move on to a lap quilt for the living room. Who knows what will come next.