I seriously didn’t think this day would come. Honestly, this quilt almost broke me. The sheer amount of cutting was OUTRAGEOUS! Especially for a beginner quilter. But, as Ryan keeps reminding me, it’s probably a good thing to push yourself slightly out of your comfort zone so that you’ll learn more. Of course, he doesn’t use those exact words. Anyway, I did learn something – try your HARDEST to never make another quilt with all of these blasted curved pieces. I say “try” because if I see another quilt that I love that’s all curves, I’ll cave. You guys know me.
I actually have had the quilt top finished for the past couple of weeks, but I hadn’t gotten around to the actual quilting part. It was hanging over my head like a terrible chore. The last two quilts I made were baby quilts and it took hours to do the free-motion quilting. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Ummmm…it wasn’t. I’m sorry, but I defy ANYONE to tell me that quilting isn’t as time-consuming and terribly painful as giving birth. OK, I’ve obviously never had children. But it took me FIVE HOURS to quilt it. Straight!!! I don’t even remember if I took a bathroom break. If I had to go, I might have just pooped in my chair (don’t people poop right on the delivery table, or is that an urban legend?) because there was no stopping. You’d be surprised at the weight of a twin-sized quilt (it’s not even queen-sized which is what I was originally hoping for) – it’s gotta be 100 (or far less than) lbs. And trying to roll the quilt up so that you can ram it into that small space between the needle and inside of your machine…ugh. I’m not even going to try to explain it all because (like childbirth), if you’ve never done it, you can’t imagine the PAIN AND SUFFERING YOU GO THROUGH!!! And, I don’t know if you heard me – FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT. OK, I’ll stop with the childbirth comments as I know it doesn’t compare. Quilting is much more difficult…
Blah, blah, blah. Pix: 
It’s a good thing Ryan has a very large ape index (we measured) because I had no idea how I was going to show you all. His monkey arms were able to hang on to the edges and hold it in front of him. Impressive, right?! I think he’s got the wingspan of a condor. And since I wanted some light, we went down to our delightful apartment building patio. I’ve hidden the hideousness as best I could. Unfortunately, the dark ones seem almost black, but they’re grey and purple Just take my word for it.
Here’s the back:
This time I opted for a straight piece of fabric. And, THIS TIME, I got enough to actual fit the quilt which meant I didn’t have to put some big weird stripe down the middle.
Here are some close-ups I took. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take these until later in the day when we were back in the apartment, so…they’re not as bright. Sorry about that. But it gives you a closer look at the quilting.
So…I already started a new quilt. “LIZZIE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU CRAZY PANTS?!” you shout. Right?! I don’t know what’s wrong with me! But, check this out, it’s so much easier that I almost finished the entire quilt top in a day. Oh straight lines…I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I’ll show you pix later this week.
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