Snowflakes

 Hi everyone! How are you doing? Friends, the last two weeks have been horrendous. Hellish, even. The less said about them, the better! I have had exactly zero time to sew anything or even think about sewing anything, but I finally escaped to the sewing room and finished something up while the roofers were banging away upstairs. Have you had a roof replaced? Good golly, the noise and the mess! And let's not even talk about the cost. . .

 

The less said the better, right? While I was taking refuge from the roofing and seriously wondering if I could nap on the cutting table, I was looking through the closet and saw today's project hanging with the other tops. Before we get to the story, here is the finished project:

 

 

Okay, it's cuter than I thought it would be. Cross hatching does work wonders, doesn't it? This is a 2-inch cross hatch, which is the perfect size for a small piece. The quilt is straight, I swear, but the edges look a little wavy in the picture because I used a wool batting, which never lies as flat as cotton. It's nice and puffy for a good texture, though.

I really don't know how old this project is. I got the blocks from somewhere at least 10 years ago, probably more. I put them together into a top a couple of years ago, and there it has hung in the closet ever since. I had so many ideas for quilting it up. It has high contrast, which for me meant quilting the darker colors separately from the white. So many ideas, none of which came to fruition. So the question when I saw it hanging there was "do I let this hang here for another winter, or do I just suck it up and finish it any way that works?" The answer was pretty obvious.

 

I grabbed a leftover piece of backing that's a map of Paris, which is awesome, a piece of leftover wool batting, and a pale blue thread and went for the cross hatch. It's easy and meditative, and since this piece was so small, about 36 inches square, it went quick. I bound it in a piece of blue that doesn't match the other blues, but after a decade, does it really matter?

As I feared, the lighter thread, which really does mostly blend all over, stands out like neon on the solid dark blue and shows every wobble. I could rip out those stitches and redo them, but I think we all know I'm not that kind of quilter, right? This is one of the reasons I used wool batting. After I wash it, I'm sure it will shrink up enough that the mistakes will just fade into the quilty crinkliness. (Is that a word?)

Hey look--it's the Eiffel Tower!

 

I'm going to use this as a winter table topper since it's more 'winter' than 'Christmas.' Honestly, though, it's just a relief to see it as a finished piece and not hanging in the closet, mocking me. It's not perfect, but I know the hubs or a four year old is going to spill gravy or ketchup on it, so it's perfectly okay with me. 

Everyone have a wonderful week! Mine is definitely looking up, as we are finishing finals and I'll be done by Friday. Okay, I'll get the grades in on Monday. Tuesday at the latest. Really. My incentive is Christmas cookies. I think that'll work, don't you?

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting, Patchwork, Applique.