Learning Curves is Finally, Finally a Finish!

At long last the binding is firmly attached to Learning Curves. And so, it becomes another quilt checked off the list this year! Woohoo! The list is maybe not shrinking by much, but it's also not really growing by leaps and bounds either. But lets not worry about that today. You would not believe much I absolutely dreaded starting the quilting process on this quilt, but ironically, that all fell into place quite easily.

Another good finish

It's all relative of course. I didn't venture into any complicated quilting, just kept it super simple so hopefully it would drape well in the end. Stitch in the ditch on the outside of every 16-patch and then hand quilting with various colors of #8 Perle Cotton a scant 1/4" on the inside of every single curve. Once the stitching was started, I had to question 'why the dread'? Perhaps because of the size or general disconnect with the quilt? This is a fairly large quilt at 80" x 96" with a more contemporary look than I generally attempt to do, so perhaps that's why the normal exuberance and excitement wasn't there. The different than expected outcome was purely a side effect of the entire quilt experimentation, but something I feel comes off well in these vivid autumn colors. It turned out to be quite okay.

Learning Curves is done! Funny how after the picture taking was done,
we notice the loose board on the siding. Uggh....

I started this quilt early on in the spring of 2013, cut all the drunkards patch blocks completely out of the stash and slowly started learning how to properly sew them together. By the time I was midway through sewing the units, I had it down pat and could sew every curve with only one or two pins. Amazing progress is what that was! And I can safely say that curves are tremendously less anxiety-producing little units than they were prior to this quilt. Mission accomplished!

So much color

It's a very warm, cozy looking quilt with a surprising amount of bright, vivid pockets of color. When my son was helping me hang it up on the outside balcony, I almost caught my breath at the rich color. Then later today, I hung it up in the stairwell {as per usual with most of my picture taking} and meh! The color was a lot more subdued. So glad I ended up using the very darkest green fabrics in my stash for the binding though. It really helps pull out that darker green color used in the quilt--makes it feel like an intentional 'background' fabric look. I had to really dig deep in the stash, but ended up with about seven different fabric pieces for the total amount of binding length needed. Any other color would have been far too busy a look for sure and this is an 'old' color. Not easy to find in the quilt stores today.

A little more subdued looking

I seriously considered giving this one away but my husband and youngest daughter have {probably} talked me out of that. They think it's a perfect quilt for using in my youngest sons bedroom when we have guests. Not girly looking like most of my larger quilts and simple enough to avoid intimidating those that worry about inadvertently 'ruining' a lovely quilt. Gotta appreciate the guests who care, but yeah, it's nice to not deliberately scare them away with a heirloom sorta quilt! Which, by the way. I do NOT have in abundance! Not my style. And if someone ever goes bonkers over this particular quilt, I'll probably bundle it up and happily send it home with them.*wink

Looking at it from the side

Despite the vibe you're probably getting from this post, I truly have developed a sort of fondness for this particular quilt {after all our struggles together, how could I not?}. It's just not one of my all-time favorites, never-gonna-pull-it-out-of-my-arms-till-I'm-dead kind of relationships! Sad but true. They can't all be the beloved favorite.

Still, I can love and admire the simple beauty of it all the same. It honestly happens to represent hours and hours of sewing {and learning} for me. That has indescribable value. It has lots of fabrics incorporated into the quilt that individually are interesting and lovely for me to look upon. It was actually very pleasant to see draped across my lap while quilting and I can only imagine how nice it will be to use on a bed. This quilt has an unexpected coziness factor stitched right into the quilt and it has to be a direct result of the the colors and fabrics used {various homespuns and reproductions--make-do mixed fabric use in several of the blocks?}. Nothing else explains why I keep getting that feeling, because the design itself does not read 'cozy' to me until I get close. And I'm proud of that. That feels like a 'me' element. One other things that makes me happy is that it's not a cookie-cutter quilt. Not boring at all. I really, really like that quality in a quilt!

And one more pic for good luck

And I know, I know. Ten years ago I would have pretty much been doing hand stands at getting a quilt like this to the completed quilt-top stage. And now I just admire it, check it off the list and then quickly move on to the {much} more exciting quilts currently in progress. Nary a pang of regret in sight! hehe  Can't ever please a 'process' quilter can you!