First Quilt

You are forgiven if you're thinking "but this is not the first quilt I've seen on this blog...."  You would be right.  This is not the first quilt I ever finished, but the first one I ever started.  The one that got me into this whole craft.

I've learned so much since starting this.  Like it's a lot faster not to cut each square individually.  (The rotary cutter and mat I got for last birthday help a lot.)  Like make sure you cut the batting a couple inches bigger than the top (because things will shift around and "spread" and you'll end up with half an inch of quilt sandwich missing its filling along one edge.)  Like how to keep the backing from getting wrinkles stitched into it (pin better.)  Like how to hide the ends of the quilting thread so there aren't knots on the back of the quilt.  (There are here.  Lots of them.  But that's okay.)

It's finished, and I love it, and this one isn't going anywhere.  It's staying right here with me at the end of my bed, where Conrad can sleep on it, as he loves to, and I can look at it and all its flaws and remember how much I've learned since I started it two years ago.  And how much I still have to learn!

(Construction notes: 4" squares from my scrap bags.  Machine pieced, hand-quilted and bound.  Batting is an old blanket and backing/binding are a thrifted sheet.)