The Good Thing Is: It's Finished

Huh. The quilt doesn't look nearly as bad in the photo as it does in person. In person, it is a hideous clash of colors that jar the eyeballs and assault the senses. Apparently poor lighting and fuzzy focus are this quilt's best friend. Until I saw the above photo, I was convinced that the quilt had no redeeming qualities.

Over the weekend I had some free time, but I didn't feel like working on anything I HAD to work on. I admit it, sometimes I enjoy wasting time, doing something completely mindless. Obviously my brain was turned off when I began this project, there was no point in turning it on to complete it! The above shows a close-up (sort of) of the quilting. I put flowers in the Broken Dishes, and around the border.

When I asked Pete what he thought about the quilt, "Is there anything good about it?" He refused to answer. (He's learned the art of saying nothing, smart man!) He hemmed and hawed. "I like these two blocks here." (Third row down, third and fourth blocks.) "They look like Picasso meets Andrew Wyeth." yeah. LOTS of clashing going on in this quilt.


This block here - doggone it!! They flipped my picture again!!! Anyway, this block here is the reason I finished this quilt. I love this block. A couple of the fabrics were from a guild exchange, but the zebra and the philodendron fabrics were from maternity dresses I made in 1982. The green batik-y palm tree was from a dress I made in 1980. The hibiscus on the black background was from a sarong I made while in college, and the surfer dude was from my very first Hawaiian shirt that I made for myself in high school. We're talking mid-70's. I've been a fan of all things tropical for YEARS. And finally, the (what should be upper corner, but in this picture is lower right) palm tree on the aqua background was fabric that we bought on our honeymoon in Hawaii. I made Pete a shirt from it, as well as several shirts for the kids so they could wear Father/Child matching shirts until they were about 2 years old.

There are good memories in that block, so I guess that makes the quilt worth hanging on to, at least for now. My current plan is to throw it in the washing machine on Hot (it has cotton batting) and then toss it in the dryer. If it shrinks, maybe that will be just the thing to give it some character.

If not, there's always the dump...

And on that, I've got two quilts-for-hire that need basting, a Hoffman that needs quilting, and plenty of housework that is not getting itself done. Happy Monday!!!

P.S. ooh!!! I washed it, and now it looks like a much-loved family heirloom, without wear and tear. How cool is that? Not as cool as it would be to figure out WHY blogger tips my pictures and HOW I can undo their creativity!!!