craftgrrl | My first *finished* quilt!

The story is behind the cut...

Here is my first completed quilt! WOO HOO! I done pieced it and machine quilted it myself. It is the Housewarning/Christmas/Birthday/Christmas present for my best friend Jim. That's how long it took to make. Really it didn't take very long, just a big breather between the basketweave center and the borders.

The genesis of this quilt is that Jim and I bought the same pair of green thin wale corduroy pants from Old Navy, he the men's version, I the women's. Both our pants crapped out at the same time, along with a pair of black cotton pants I had. Those three pairs became the basketweave. When I saw the center, I thought, "this is for Jim." Jim's got a corduroy kind of personality.

My efforts were stalled until I got more pants, since the point was to repurpose pants instead of buying new fabric. Two different women donated two pairs each and the remain 6 pair were bought cheap in Minnesota at Unique Thrift Store in St. Anthony (?).

Cutting the remaining pieces sucked. Maybe a larger rotary cutter may have helped, bigger than my 45mm puppy. Sewing was fine - just lots and lots and lots of fuzz everywhere.

To quilt the top, I bought low-loft cotton fusible batting and dark navy flannel backing. Quilting wasn't too bad, got through my tough little Brother sewing machine pretty well. Kept the quilting really simple by making it a squared spiral.

The binding? Well, I considered making my own navy flannel bias tape. Didn't have enough flannel left, and was quite frankly, ready to finish the quilt. I bought navy cotton quilt binding. Pinned it, sewed it. It's slightly lighter than the backing. And if you scrutinized it, it's the weakest sewing. But I think Jim will spend his time warming up under the 66"x66" lap quilt rather than inspecting it. And soon it will be inaugurated with Jackson and Rufus's cat hair.

I threw it in the wash and the dryer and it looks just so durn soft and comfy! And it's kind of snazzy to think that pieces of this quilt where who knows where on the lower halves of many folks who saw who knows what!

For more projects, check out the Art/Work blog on my site:
http://www.loosetooth.com/