Warmth, you're right on time.

So I did finish this quilt, at the beginning of the month actually, just days before the first meeting of the NYC Metro Modern Quilt Guild.

This was a very interesting project for me.  I learned a lot about myself in the process and as result I have strange feelings towards the finished quilt.  So, let's review:

I started this quilt at the end of January and it consumed my thoughts for several days. It was the kind of project that I lie awake at night thinking about and couldn't start fast enough. I had just found the NYC ModQuilters and while updating "my page" I realized that I really didn't have any quilts "modern" enough to showcase. This was of course before the MQG discussion about what "modern" really means. So, personal revelation #1: I like how I quilt, no matter what anyone else says about it, and I don't have to change my style or interrupt my creative process to make things just to fit in with the crowd. Yeah, so that whole "what is modern" discussion resulted in me not liking that I was making this quilt..

But, back to the actual making of it... I used the fabrics I bought at Portsmouth Fabric Co. in NH last fall, so the fabrics are ultra-special for me. Several times as I was piecing I caught myself saying "this is my favorite fabric in the whole quilt!" (to a different fabric each time, of course). I also added a healthy dose of stash fabrics, one dating back to my time in Kyoto in '99, a few others from college, and even a few from the scrap bag Jude sent me before we moved to NY. Three of the fabrics on the back are from my stash (pink calico from the ATL guild ugly box, bunnies from my '07 trip to Japan, Erin McMorris wildwood trees that I got at Purl with Amber) and the heart batik came in a scrap bag from Shannon a few months ago. I had one tiny scrap of that fabric from my time in Atlanta and I was sooo happy to see it again, I knew I wanted it in this quilt.

I foundation pieced (not unlike this method) my blocks to a draft of one of Costas' economics papers, keeping my blocks 8.5"x11". I left all the papers on until I had stitched the blocks together and added the border because I was scared the bias edges would stretch and distort my rectangles. I enlisted George's help to finally remove the papers and the stitches did pull a bit as I ripped them off, but thankfully everything stayed intact and I didn't have much trouble quilting it. I based my quilting pattern off this quilt and revelation #2: I LOVE wavy-line quilting! I immediately wanted to quilt every other top I have with easy, carefree wavy lines. But I didn't. Maybe I will in the future..

So that's it.  I love the quilt, I just don't like why I made it.  And now I don't know what to do with it. As usual, Costas hated it during construction, claiming he doesn't like quilts that are "all one color," but after it was done he said it was nice. It totally doesn't go with anything in our house, and although it is cheerful and warm, it just looks out of place here. So I think I'll give it away, and I have in mind someone to give it to, but I'm not 100% convinced. I wish I knew if she liked it first, you know? This lead to revelation #3: I have a lot of special people in my life that I would like to give quilts (or quilted items) to, so I better get on that. And as I thought of each person, new quilt ideas started flowing. Unfortunately, this quilt isn't right for any of them, but nearly perfect for the one friend I've been thinking of.. but then, with all these special fabrics in it, it's kind of hard to part with, especially knowing that I may never see it again.

So that's the story. Glad I got the chance to write it all down.

(btw, this is not the post I eluded to in my last post, that one's still brewing..)