Red, White and Sew Blue

This quilt started out as a learning process for me. I wanted to practice half square triangles - and sew it began. After sewing all the blocks together, I realized I had not "followed the rules" in putting all the blocks together (seam allowances not going the same way, etc) so it was banished to the closet - then one day I decided to work on it again so out of the closet it came - only to find I had given away all the red and white fabric I had used. The search began for reds to match (was I crazy or what?). Back to the closet. A few years and three moves later I decided I would finish it. Which lead to another fabric search, but could not make up my mind what to do with it, what colors to use, and all that "stuff" we think about when quilting. Back to the closet.

A few months ago as I was unpacking from yet another move I found this blue fabric in my stash. I can honestly say I do not remember how long it had been there (sound familiar?). I decided I would just add wide borders and hope that it would work for a baby or lap quilt. I quickly sat down and sewed the borders, only to realize that the top had stretched, was not square and anything else that could be wrong -was. Banished to the closet again.

In December, I decided my sewing goals for 2010 were 1. Finish all UFOs 2. Sew from my stash 3. make one donation project each month. Sew - out of the closet it came, I used the same blue for the back - I used upholstery flannel for the batting and I just started stitching in the ditch across each row. Really was not looking that great because of the mistakes made while piecing - but I was not going to stop! I just stitched row after row of stitches, both vertical and horizontal - my own version of stippling. This will be my first donation project for 2010. Its not perfect, may not even be "squared" when finished - but it will be warm and I know it will be used.