so, the quilt was finally finished, just in time for me to wash and dry it before my trip! it was delivered to its recipients last night, after a delicious dinner of roast chicken, greek-style mashed potatoes, and brownie sundaes. unfortunately, i had no real means of wrapping the quilt, and it seemed wasteful to buy a gift bag, so it was presented rather unceremoniously in a bryn mawr college campus bookshop bag. eh.
so, here it is, in all its completed, quilted, fully-bound glory:
all the fabrics shrank just the right amount in the wash, giving it that oh-so-perfect crinkly quilt look and feel. and the fish, seahorses, and octopi are just as cute post-spin cycle!
this was the first quilt that i’ve bound in a true quilt-binding style, so i was a little nervous about how it would turn out. it certainly took eons, and my poor fingertips were quite sore at the end, but i think the binding turned out beautifully, and the bright orange really sort of pulls the colors together and brightens up the pale-blue that dominates the front.
and, of course, i had to include one of my nifty tags!
i’m so incredibly happy with this quilt. it feels like the first “real” quilt i’ve made because each and every square was pieced together, because i used real batting, instead of just backing it with polar fleece, and because i made a real binding and sewed it on by hand. and while it’s not the first quilt i’ve given as a gift, the fact that it’s a baby gift for a dear friend makes it extra-special and meaningful.
in the end, despite the lack of wrapping paper and sappy cards, both parents-to-be were very touched and grateful, and when i woke up this morning, tristan informed me that last night, as he lay in bed falling asleep, he was thinking of the quilt. in his own words: “i could see the baby on the quilt.” it doesn’t get any better than that.
