Reaching the finish line . . . of a different sort

It took six months, but I did it - this afternoon I finished the quilt for my daughter! Her second birthday is a little over a week from now, so I may even be able to call myself an overachiever. No, not really. The darn thing should have been finished months ago!

It is hard to tell in a photo, but there are about 80 different fabrics (I lost count) in this puppy. Some are scraps from quilts I made for other people, others I purchased just for this project. And still others are from my mom's unbelievable stash. The quilt pattern was inspired by a quilt I saw in the Sundance catalog (my FAVORITE catalog). The difference is that the Sundance quilt is more vintage Americana in nature and this one requires sunglasses for viewing, which I believe is more appropriate for a firecracker of a little girl.

It is too early to make the final call, but I may like the back even more than the front. All of these solid batiks are included in the front, but they really stand out nicely as 12 inch blocks. I'm pleased with how well the quilting stitches are highlighted on this side.

Yesterday I pinned on the binding and today I could just FEEL that it was the day for my big finish. While some runners I know were reaching their half-marathon goals in Arizona and the Cardinals and Eagles duked it out for the playoffs, I reached the finish line for the quilt. Maybe the motivation was the sun that finally showed its face after WEEKS of hiding behind clouds and several days of our valley being blanketed in fog from sun up to sun down.

To celebrate my quilting finish I put on my new shoes for a test walk on the treadmill (today's my off day, but a 20 minute walk did me good). My hubby warmed up the treadmill belt for me as he took his new shoes for a run. Even at my walking pace, I could tell that these new shoes were WAY overdue - why is it we runners wait so long before the great shoe swap? I look forward to running in them tomorrow!

This photo shows you the quilting I did - it is the same wandering pattern across the whole thing. It dawned on me that this stitch design likely comes naturally to me because I used to doodle it in the margins of my Geometry notes in high school. Quilts are geometry in a practical form, so the doodling wasn't really time wasted!

What a big week this is (MLK Day & The BIG Inauguration, for starters). Hold onto those hats, folks . . . and be sure to make time for a good run (and preferably more than one)!