Favourite Finish of 2018

There was no contest.  I knew if I finished this one it would be my favourite quilt finish of 2018.

Chic Country (pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful)

I finished hand quilting Chic Country on the evening of December 21. I had hoped to finish a little earlier so I could sneak the binding on while my daughter was at school but I ran out of school days.  As long as I was just quilting, she didn't know how close I was to finishing.  If she had seen me bind she would have known a finish was imminent.  In the end, I decided to trim the quilt while she was out of the house and put the unbound but trimmed quilt under the tree, way in back. 

Look at that smile! I sent her behind the tree, she paused, looked puzzled, then said "You finished it?". When I replied "All but the binding" the smile bloomed.  She knew I had a quilt under the tree for her brother, but was sure I wouldn't have hers finished. She had been checking my progress on the line drawing I was coloring in as I finished quilting sections.  Good thing I thought of that and stopped coloring weeks before!

The quilt migrated to her bedroom to sleep under that night, and I stole it back several times over the next few days to sew on the binding.  Here it is in its new home.

Chic Country quilt

It looks much better there than in a pile beside my chair in the living room, where it has been for almost two years as I slowly quilted.

Hand quilting detail on Chic Country

I even remembered to quilt her name into it, as required by tradition.  (I explained the origins of it in this post several years and a few bed quilts ago.) I tried to figure out how to fit the name into the blocks, but they have 4-fold symmetry and my daughter's name has 5 letters. I settled for stitching it in two places in the border. If you click on the picture it should enlarge so you can see the detail.

And of course, quilt testing is not complete without Rosie's approval. 

Besides making Laura happy, I am so, so happy to have finally finished this one!  I chose the fabrics in March 2016, started cutting in November,  started piecing in January 2017, pondered how to tweak the pattern to add borders in February and finished the top on February 21, 2017.  I have been quilting it in fits and starts since about April 2017.  I neglected pretty much everything else for a couple of months before Christmas to get it done, but it was worth it for that smile on Christmas morning!

I'm taking a break from hand quilting for a little bit.  I have piecing to do and for evening hand work I picked up some pretty yarn to knit a sweater.

Wishing you all much happiness and quilting success in 2019!