The quilt is done!

I tell my students that ambition must be accompanied by discipline, and I like it when I live up to my own axioms.

Although my husband was understandably skeptical about my being able to finish a quilt, given the crazy busy pace that this semester has had since its beginning, I can say with not a little pride that I did it! I had my own doubts, too, since I've been known to pick up projects or endeavors and then abandon them after they prove too complicated, or time consuming, or annoying.

But, this time, as with my Monster, I plodded through, and while (like my Monster) the quilt is far from perfect, it's quite functional and now graces a tabletop in my office. And I was the only student in the class (there were 4 of us) who finished her quilt on time. I did have two great teachers, who patiently showed me how to do things and helped me fix my many mistakes, but the quilt was all cut, and pieced and machine sewn (and even stitched) by me.

One interesting thing about quilting is that once you've finished sandwiching the top (see above), the batting, and the backing (see my dancing kitties below), then that's when los huevos se ponen a peseta. That's when the really hard part starts.

Quilting the quilt itself is the second hardest part, and many quilters take their sandwiched quilt (done in this case with an adhesive spray) to a professional quilter for that step. I found the binding (the green edging around the whole quilt) to be the greatest challenge, and if you look closely, you'll see that some of my edges are less than straight, or downright crooked.

But who's looking? I wasn't seeking perfection, I was just seeking accomplishment in the sense of finishing the quilt. And I did, so I'm happy as can be.

Next semester, the same teachers are going to teach a class on how to quilt with flannel, and my plan is to sign up for that, too, unless next semester, when I'll be teaching 3 classes (including my first senior seminar), ends up being crazier busier than this one.

My generous mother-in-law has loaned me her old, portable Singer so over the Christmas break I'm hoping to quilt a small baby boy quilt for my bestest of friends, KG, and that's something I'm looking forward to.

I've always said that the only thing I knew to do well with my hands was type since I couldn't draw, or paint, or sculpt. But then I added pie and bread making to typing, and now I've added quilting, and perhaps someday I'll take a photography class so nunca es tarde cuando la dicha es buena. It feels good to know that while I may be getting older I still have so many cool things to learn.