finishing touches

This week I finished my log cabin quilt.

We splurged on professional quilting since this quilt was too huge for me to do on my machine, I was short on time, my parents were willing to chip in and make the quilt a joint gift, and we found a good deal. Though I must admit to feeling nervous about entrusting the quilt to a stranger after all the time and care I put into it, it was a huge relief to not have to worry about the quilting! My fears were unfounded, it came back beautifully quilted with the perfect-colored thread.

After the break from working on the quilt while it was away being quilted, I was actually excited about sewing on the binding. (Yes, I do sew on binding the cheater way with my machine instead of by hand...)

I am so proud of how my design turned out! It turned out so beautifully that I'm having just a tiny bit of a hard time thinking about giving it away after all. I can't think of someone I'd rather give all of my beautiful green and brown scraps to than my friend Martha, though. : ) I know she and her new husband will enjoy it and treasure it, and in the long run, I'll never regret the gift.

Oh bother I just now realized while looking at the above photo that the hearts are not centered. Sigh. I won't cry over it. After all, I knew that after it was all sewn together I'd see mistakes for which I checked and double checked but still missed. I guess the asymmetry gives it a cool, modern-y look?

It was very rewarding to fold it up to fit in the gift bag.

There were two extra quilt squares when the quilt was all done, so I made them into quilted pot holders. That way if Martha can't fit the big quilt into her tiny first home, she'll still have something that I made for her to use.