Oh. My. Gosh. At one point, I
thought I would never finish this quilt and look! I completed it just in time
for it to be my final finish of 2011! I can hardly believe it! What a great way
to end 2011.
When I first heard about Don’t Call Me Betsy’s Kaleidoscope Quilt Along in June 2011, little did I know that
it would be one of my biggest quilting challenges to date. The pattern was
stunning and I was super excited about my first Quilt Along. After rummaging in
my stash, I decided to make a twin-sized quilt in blues and purples for my
daughter’s Big Girl Bed. (Although right now it’s more like mommy’s Unplanned
Nap Bed, since my daughter isn’t ready for her Big Girl Bed yet.) Anyways, I
had my heart set on making a bed-sized quilt in my daughter’s colors. I
procrastinated starting because I had never used templates before. Thankfully,
my mom loaned me her templates once she was done with the cutting. It was then
that I learned an important lesson: I do not like working with templates. In
fact, I loathe it. Nevertheless, I plodded through the cutting and finally made
it to the piecing stage. By that point, I had read that people were having
trouble getting their blocks to lie flat. Luckily, my quilting motto is “if you
can’t do it, fudge it.” I pinned and pressed and sewed and didn’t worry too
much about the piecing being perfect. As a result, the quilt top came together
pretty well. I started machine quilting it in October, but then set it aside
while I focused on Christmas presents. After Christmas, I put every possible
moment of leisure time into finishing this quilt. Don't ask me what time I went to bed last night.
I am extremely pleased with how
this quilt turned out. It may not have been my favorite quilt to make, but it
challenged me and still came out lovely. I especially like the color combination,
the unexpected designs the quilting made, and the binding. The fabric for this
quilt is a smattering of Paris Cats, some Kona solids, a couple of my favorite
Lizzy House prints, and some other random prints.
