This post has been a long time in waiting. Mostly because the quilt has taken me at least a year to complete. Closer to two if you want to be honest. It all started with a piece of fabric that a friend passed on to me with these African animals on it. I really wasn't sure where to start. I mean it had squares with animals printed on it. Then it came to me. Highlight those animals in a quilt block. So I started cutting and sewing and pulled together the blocks. They hung on the wall for quite a while before I decided what to do next.
In the meantime, I had talked to Jay about these animals being his new blanket, in hopes that he would give up his baby blanket that had been washed and chewed to shreds. When I finally decided what to do next, I gave the stack of blocks to Jay and sent him to the living room floor and said to lay them out how he would want them to be for his quilt. The only rule I gave him was that no two animals that were alike could be next to each other.
He had a great time doing this and took his time. He actually put some thought into it. I mean, come on, he is only 7. So I took his layout and added sashing and made the blocks into a top. He was so excited that it was a finished quilt top and he wanted to sleep with it that night. I said no.
Some time passed and I took it to my quilt group to baste it. And then it sat in the sewing room some more. Then I machine quilted some of it. And then it sat in the sewing room again. Poor quilt just wanted to be loved. I finally got up the excitement to finish quilting it about a week ago. Jay was so excited that again he wanted to take it to bed with him. But the binding wasn't on it yet. Sorry buddy. So that night I got right on the binding and he got to have it the next day. The best part...he traded me, my quilt for his baby blanket. Hard to believe he actually gave up the baby blanket. I am just glad to have it finished. It feels so great to finish a project like that!
This week I recieved a fun package in the mail. A week or so ago I actually won an online blog giveaway. I couldn't believe it! I have never won something like that before. So I anxiously awaited the arrival of my package, all the way from Canada. Well, Canadian Thanksgiving and The United States Columbus Day made my package come awfully slow. The fun part of recieving this package was that I knew only of the pattern and DVD coming. All the rest were fun treats. Thank you Madame Samm! What a treat! This pattern will soon be used. I am so excited!
