Arriving at the campsite (about one hour before dark--yeah, i know we cut it close), I exited the car with this in hand.
Here's one where you can see a little of the border, pardon the bluriness in these.
This wasn't started with the purpose of a baby present in mind. In fact this was started probably a little over a year ago (maybe closer to a year and a half--but definitely before all this crazy shoulder business) when I took my second quilting class. (Shout out to EQB here. And an even bigger shout out to Bev (she's in the second square down), who has taught all the classes I've taken so far. She's so cute and she rocks.) Close to the time it was started, I got all the way through the quilting, making the binding and sewing it on. But I never got around to sewing down the binding. It just sat in my unfinished pile for (what seems like) forever.
But I felt a little guilty about not giving something handmade to Steph.* A lot of my friends (good friends) have been/are having babies lately and in an ideal world I would be making them all baby presents, but its just not feasible and truthfully I don't think all of them would really appreciate the extra effort anyway. But Steph, she's is different. I LOVE love her, insert big heart here. She is my best friend from Sacramento, and probably one of the few friends I actually feel gets me emotionally; whenever the shit starts to hit the fan, I know I can turn to her and she'll understand and be supportive. My other friends will be sympathetic, of course, but for most of them, I feel a certain amount of disconnect, like they don't really get how it affects me, how I take it because of who I am. She does (or at least that's how I feel). She really sees me. Plus she is all about the love for crafty goodness.
And so, about a week before the camp out I started considering attempting a little sewing to finish off the quilt and giving it as a gift. I used sewing the binding down as a little test to see how my shoulders and other achy parts handled it. And they did okay. I don't think I could sew for hours on end, but a little bit here and there I think I could swing. My mom bought me a new sewing machine right after the initial shoulder injury (not realizing it would be such a long term thing) and I'm actually thinking that I might be able to handle the special class that teaches the ins and outs of the machine works. (Is it crazy that that thought excites me a little?!)
Here are some closer detail shots of the quilt. Pardon the wrinkly-ness of the quilt, but it was a late night finish the night before camping and there was no way I was busting out the ironing board and iron to de-crease it. (heh heh heh, de-crease.)
The whole thing was based around the dragonfly print, which is just fabulous. Pretty and feminine, without being over the top. And then I found all the supporting fabric to pull the colors out of the dragonfly print. There isn't much quilting on this blanket--just the purple triangles in the pinwheels (man, those pinwheels were a bitch to sew on my wimpy old machine, let me tell you)--and that worries me a little. Hopefully it will stand up to the test of time. But it's Bev's design/instructions and after the 50 or so odd years of quilting that this woman has under her belt, it is not my place to question. She's a veritable encyclopedia of quilting experience. So, I hope this doesn't fall apart on Baby Logan (at least not within the next few years). In hindsight, I probably should have quilted in the ditch around the border to help stabilize it more, but I was tired and my arms were tired (I'd been packing, washing mess kits that never got used, and baking for the camp out in addition to the sewing), so oh well.
In the end, I love this quilt. And to tell the truth, I considered keeping it for myself. I love the color combo; it's fantastic (IMHO--or not so humble opinion ((IMNSHO?)), whatevs). But I knew that it would probably never get much use from me. I would keep it just to have it cuz it's pretty. And I thought if anyone deserves this quilt, it is Steph. If I was going to give away something I love so much, it had to be to someone I love so much. Plus it worked out since baby Logan is a girl, but her mom is not super girl-y and didn't want super girl-y gifts--so this quilt suits perfectly I think. And it met the requirement of "no pink".
Yay! So this is a resounding success both literally in how the quilt turned out and emotionally in making me happy that I was able to give someone I love so much something so personal from me. I hope you love it, Steph.** And I hope it is well used, Baby Logan.
(I meant to take pics of Logan with the quilt and the beautiful Yosemite as the backdrop, but there really wasn't much synchronized Chancy and Logan time. I also gave my other great Sacramento girlfriend, Marie, a scarf that I knit a while back for her birthday, but didn't get any pics of that on her either. If either of you think of it, pics would be great.)
*Steph, I know I shouldn't have felt guilty and you completely understood, but it was there anyway, so don't sweat it.
**Steph, I know you do, even if it's just because it's from me. That's how great you are.
