finished!

the notorious "star cookie" quilt is complete. oh, yay! time to celebrate. one tiny "to do" marked off my list.

after having languished since i began the hand quilting on it last october, i picked it up again last week and had it done today. saturday was a calmly blissful day of gentle hand quilting while listening to fellowship of the ring on cassette (as in "tape" - how's that for vintage?).  the hand quilting came together surprisingly quickly once i gave up the struggle for perfection. "wonky is nice" is my motto, remember? i started this quilt only having read a few bits of mediocre quilting books and being inspired by the wonderful jane brocket to just try it out without any real training. originally, it was going to be a 4sq blanket, but i couldn't find a coordinating flannel (other than boring white).

well, to start at it's very beginning, i took my two baby girls to the fabric store last september. to keep the four year old compliant and occupied while i shopped, i let her pick out four fat quarters with the idea that i could whip up a 4sq blanket in no time. she picked these rose, pink, grey, and orange prints from soliel. her absolute favorite was the one she called "star cookie" because it reminded her of some star-shaped cookies in a fancy nancy book she'd just read. (the cookies in the book were regular 5 point stars, but she thought these shapes were stars and star cookies, too. works for me.) only problem was i couldn't find a matching flannel despite combing 3 stores for candidates. then i got the crazy idea to just make a small quilt. why not?

i'd been wanting to quilt for a long time and jane helped me believe i could do it. so i did. i thought of making fat strips instead of just 4 squares and the design was born. i added one more print to the mix to pull them together a bit more, as well as another fat quarter and yardage for the backing in the pink star cookie print. six fat quarters cut in half, sewn into two rows. simple. i didn't know a thing about squaring or setting seams or pressing. i just had a vague idea about making a top, putting some batting in the middle, and a backing being needed. with that in mind, i happily got to work. after the top was done, i consulted an on-line you tube tutorial about hand quilting and started in on that phase. jane said she always hand quilts without a hoop in straight lines. good enough for jane, good enough for me. i had a great time doing it, loving the serenity and rythm of hand quilting.

in november, before i had gotten much of the quilting done, i took my first quilt class and learned all the things i'd done wrong. i hadn't squared anything and my seams were far from straight, not to mention not well pressed. i'd done some of the quilting by following the striped lines on some of the pieces only to find out prints aren't necessarily straight. no wonder my lines didn't look right on the back of the quilt! my fun, happy little project began to look like a big mess and headache. it lay in the "on the go" handwork basket until i picked it up again last week. knowing it had many faults already and deciding which to correct, i tackled it again. i remembered the novice joy i began the project with and went back to that attitude. it's still far from perfect, but it's done, done, done! and finally in the hands of the little girl it was meant for.

despite it's many imperfections, she's excited to have it and i'm well pleased with it, too. who needs perfection? i made a complete quilt all by myself! that's enough for me.