At long last!

I honestly didn’t think this quilt would ever be completed.  Today, I am so proud to say I took it off the quilt frame!

This was the first quilt I ever pieced, and according to the label so proudly embroidered right on the front of the quilt (LOL) it was done in the summer of 2004.

For six years, it’s been stored in a dusty box.  I had pulled it out when we bought this house, thinking I’d quilt it on my HQ16, but I only had my frame set up at eight feet, and it wouldn’t fit.

Back into the box.  I remembered it awhile back after I got the Millennium, and decided I would finally finish it!  Oh my, what a disaster this quilt was!  There are no matching points, it’s pieced with embroidery thread, there isn’t a square block to be found, and all the fabrics on the back were unraveling, making quite a mess.

There was in excess of eight inches of surplus border fabric, and I honestly didn’t think I would be able to quilt it without ruining it.  It nearly went into the trash, as it rather overwhelmed me.  I decided it would make excellent practice, because I will probably quilt someone else’s first quilt at some point, made with little skill but much enthusiasm!

I starched and steamed the heck out of the borders, in an effort to ease in some of excess fabric.  I only ended up taking one tuck!  And honestly, I could have steamed it out as well, I just ran out of ambition.

Now it’s just a matter of finding fabric to bind it with, I’ve long since lost or used the binding fabric up.  If I can’t find a better match, plain black will work.

I had to laugh, the name of the quilt is “Bear Paw Scramble”.  I know this because along with the date and my name, I added that information to the lable.  I’m laughing, because it’s the worse quilt I’ve ever made, and the only quilt I’ve ever labeled!