Almost

done.

I have finished the front. I need to do the actual quilting part (sewing the front, batting and back layers all together) and then close the edges.

Of my hobbies, quilting is the most creative, the most costly, and the most permanent. That often adds an added pressure. It's not as though Andrew will receive the quilt and then eat it (like he does my cookies) or throw it away (like he might a card...if I didn't snag it for the scrapbook). It's going to be around. For a while. When we all get sick of staring at it in 5 years, it will probably be stored away in a chest for future small people that enter our lives, namely, Andrew's kids? When I think about all that, I don't like quilting. It makes me look at it too critically. Writing that just now, I thought, I wonder if it is worth all that fuss. Maybe it should just end up as the batting for future quilts, like quiltmakers used to do. I mean it is no masterpiece.

I never think about my cookies or scrapbook pages like this. And I'm not sure I like thinking this way.

I do like quilting because it is fun. It is incredibly creative. This quilt has a photo transfer, embroidery, tons of applique, patchwork, hand sewing, etc. I wasn't trying to include lots of techniques, but as I came across problems to solve, different things made sense. And as I solved each problem I would get so excited. I think I have the most emotional involvement when I quilt. And sometimes that is really exhausting.

So, despite the inner struggle, I am still drawn to this. I am still planning future quilts. I feel excited to go on. To get better at this. To get more from this. A friend asked me how many I have made. I have made about 30. But this will be the second one I keep. I love some. Love them. Am still impressed by them. And others I blush when I think of them. Not quite sure they came out like I envisioned. This one hits in middle, towards the 'like it' side.


I think it's Andrew's favorite.