Getting it done, part 15

The frog quilt is done!  It's done!  It really is!

I am so happy that I decided to go ahead and send it off to the friend-of-a-friend long-arm-quilter.  My skill level is nowhere near capable of quilting these lovely, free-hand, loopy all-over flowers.

In fact, my skill level would have made for some very messy stitch-in-the-ditch trying to follow the diagonal lines of the quilt top -- nothing near as beautiful as what this long-arm expert came up with. 

I was not originally planning to put this quilt on my own bed.  In fact, I believe that some 15 or 17 years ago, when this quilt was first started, that perhaps I promised it to my mom as a gift?  But of course, that didn't materialize back then....and as uncertain as I am that it is to my own taste, I am even more certain that it isn't to her taste (other than the fact that I made it -- she is so lovely a mom that she would oooh and aaaahhh just to make me feel good about it, even if she didn't really like it).  So for now, at least, I'm keeping it, and not only keeping it, but using it on my own bed. 

For realsies: 

So I spent a ridiculous amount of time adding the three borders to the quilt -- the yellow, white, and gingham you can see at the bottom.  I pieced the scraps together into the pillow sham tops -- they don't quite match each other, but they are close enough not to bother me, and used up a lot of the extra pieces.  I'm not sure anymore exactly what I did incorrectly, but at some point, 15 or 17 years ago, I ended up choosing to leave the quilt smaller rather than un-sewing and re-sewing another part of the lattice. It was nice to put those extra pieces to good use. My border was terribly wobbly and stretchy, so I used some extremely amateur techniques to try to shrink it back to the correct size.  God bless the lovely long-arm-lady -- she saved this quilt for me.  

I also spent a good chunk of time piecing together the back:

And I am perhaps inordinately proud of that little strip of improv piecing.  A few of the blogs I read are written by master improv quilters/master quilters in general; after many (many many many) years of reading about other people's successes and good technique and helpful hints, I gave it a tiny go, using up still more of the scraps from the top.  I think it turned out more reliably flat and square than the top -- I suppose this is the difference learned over 15 years or so of sewing.  The difference is also probably attributable to learning to use the iron and trim pieces, in addition to and between sewing them together. 

And so!  Another of the big finishes from the get-it-done list is complete. 

Smaller finishes (also known as mending!): 

1. reattached button on one of "the baby's" outfits

2. re-secured the "flappy bits" on the rooster puppet

3. re-elastic-ed a couple of Peanut's skorts

4. re-attached four little decorative balls to Miss Middle's lehenga

5. replaced and moved the buttons on Miss Middle's romper, which used to by mine when I was small

6. sewed up the button seam of a button down shirt dress (left top buttons functional, prevented gaping and spontaneous button-opening on a dress that already had pockets)

7. made two of Peanut's bathing suits smaller

8. cut apart the two layers of a double-layer tank of mine; re-hemmed but left opening -- washed to get collected lint out from between the two layers -- it looks so much nicer on now!

Coming soon: a pile of sweet summer clothes for the sweet little people in my family, along with wedding and baby gifts.

And here we are in June -- some setbacks along the way, but still trying to get things done.