I Did it! Finished the Big Kiss Quilt Top!

So... about a month ago, I mentioned the possibility of starting a brand new project. You know me. Can't possibly keep the volume turned down on open ended projects! Anyway, this lovely quilt is what convinced me to go ahead. I just love it to pieces.

Big Kiss quilt

It took awhile because I actually ended up having to raid three different stacks of beautifully simmering fabric. That's a little painful for me. Now some of those stacks of fabric feel like they're lacking something important. The decision had to be made whether or not it was worth it {several of those individual fabrics are now all used up}. Obviously I decided that it was, but this is now. I kind of want my cake and want to eat it too... 

From a different angle

The other thing is that my brain seems to be malfunctioning a bit right now. Stress overload probably. I pulled fabrics and sat on the idea. Checked fabrics again, rearranging and changing the sequence of how they might line up per block. Had to ditch several very good options because there wasn't enough fabric available. Then I checked the cutting directions and decided to let them sit overnight one more time. Okay. Time to start cutting. Whoops! Don't have enough of  one piece of fabric overall. Panic attack 'cuz I'd already started cutting! {Kind of saw that one coming, didn't we?}

The center is just fine...

But, yeah. That's how this entire quilt project has went. Day by day slowly working on a few things, always double checking that it was being done properly. Hoping. Crossing my fingers and plowing ahead. Don't blame Clare, her tutorial is excellent! Very clearly written and easy to understand though I did question her suggestion to iron the seams open. So not my preference, though it proved to be good in the end.

Just so you know, five of these fabrics had to be pieced just so there was enough overall length to make the expected cuts. I used the same fabric in the piecing for four of them, but look at the bottom right block in the first pic. Yep, sure enough, that middle orangey-cantaloupe fabric had to have an extra special addition to makes things work. Just couldn't make myself ditch the already cut fabric and start over fresh! I almost put it smack in the middle of the quilt 'just because'! And the center didn't line up super duper perfectly either. I tried twice and gave up. So not at the top of my priority lists these days. I'm sure you'll do better!

Whatever, it's done now. Not going back! Gotta say that I'm really happy with this little quilt. It should be a fast finish whenever it hits the top of the quilting queue some day. Not saying that it will NEVER get a border, but right now I'm leaning real hard to the side of 'no'....

A brand new ironing board cover!

On another note, I've been looking for for a cover to my counter top ironing board for quite some time. So very hard to find these little covers, and frankly, I didn't want anything flashy. Eventually I realized that it was basically cheaper to buy a brand new ironing board with cover included {then throw the board away}, than it was to buy a cover by itself. Nope. Not happening. So I ended up using a large ironing board cover someone had given me years ago. I had this vague memory of someone gifting me one, and at the time, wondering why they would think I wanted one? Finally found it hiding away in a closet somewhere, still in the packaging!

I placed it over the little board and did a rough estimate of how much was needed, chopped off the extra length and then pinned the underneath side with some large quilting pins. Was going to sew it up all proper like and then decided it didn't really matter. Who's going to be looking underneath the board? All I did was zigzag stitch along the cut cloth and then take in some of the length on the elastics attached to the clips that help tighten the cover. Easy peasy. Seriously, I think it might have taken 15 minutes from start to finish and that includes the cutting and taking it out of the package!

Why didn't I make my own pattern and sew a new one out of pretty quilting fabric you ask? Bah humbug. The purpose of an ironing board is for functionality around here. A good ironing board cover has fabric that has been specially treated to withstand extra heat. Not paying boo koo bucks for that kind of fabric when I can buy a cheapo one from Walmart! And then in the end, I found one in my closet, didn't have to wrangle a quilt pattern or spend any extra time. Win, win.