Fish Quilt is Done! Fish Quilt is Done!

What a saga getting this quilt finished!  But first, here it is.

I started this quilt a couple years ago, and finished the top relatively quickly.  I was working on it out here at the acreage on weekends, when I was still going back and forth to the city to work during the week.  It was winter, so there wasn't a lot of work to be done out here.  So, lots of time to sew. 

I have a mid-arm, which was in the city.  I loaded the top on, and did a couple passes.  Then, a combination of procrastination and warmer weather set in.  It sat for months!  When we sold our house in the city, and had to move the mid-arm to the acreage, that posed a problem.  It's hard to move a loaded quilt!  I had to figure out how to roll it on to the bars, and remove them from the table to move them.  Then wrap it so it wouldn't get dirty in the process.

It worked, though, with only a couple minor hiccups.  One was that the quilt got a little rumpled, so I had to iron it ON the mid-arm frame, each time I rolled it forward.

More procrastination ensued.  The garden and yard was much more enticing than my basement studio.  Finally, this winter, I sat myself down and told myself to smarten up and finish that quilt!  And went back to work on it.

The one smart thing I did was draw out the design I used on the top border and cornerstones.  After a year, there was no way I would remember how I did it.  That saved me having to unroll my quilt back to the beginning.

Finally, I finished it, and it turned out better than I expected.  (They almost always do - I don't know why I sit on the quilting so long.)

Here is a close up of some of the quilting.  I was going for a fish scale effect.

I backed it with this wonderfully soft flannel.  I'm sleeping under the quilt now, and it makes for a really cozy quilt!

And finally, just because I never tire looking at my view, here is a shot out my kitchen window, just as the sun was coming up the other day.

Colleen