Peaks and Valleys

Back in the day (I'm not quite sure what day, but sometime in the past), I used to start a project and finish it. It was a work-in-progress, sure, but a single work-in-progress. When people spoke or blogged of "WIPs" -- multiple -- I had no idea what they were referring to as I always had one thing to do. No longer. As of this writing, I have 3 quilt tops draped over my ironing board, multiple quilt projects occupying space in my head, and several collections of fabric resting on my futon waiting to be turned into something.

Given this state of affairs, not to mention deadlines of various sources, I decided I needed to finish a project this weekend. Did I start with the completed quilt tops? No. Did I pick up the almost-completed quilt top? Nope. I opted to grab the strips I had faithfully set aside, combined, and ironed while making the Miracle Foundation quilts (#2 and #3 being the completed and almost-completed quilt tops staring at me), and turn them into a quilt for the Hope Squared project. I justified this on several accounts: the deadline is fast approaching, strip quilts are simple (if a bit time-consuming) to piece together, I had all the fabric -- backing and binding included -- and I wanted to make another strip quilt.

My weekend concludes with a completely finished quilt. I pieced, backed, basted, quilted, and bound it all up. I rather like it (and got to use a bunch of fabrics generous people sent me for the Miracle Foundation quilts that, due to size, didn't quite work in the other quilts I made). I added the green tulip fabric (that Dayna sent me last spring) to add interest, backed with red fleece (a remnant from this quilt), dug into my stash for the green binding, and finished it up. I tried a new binding method I learned about here from Red Pepper Quilts (check out her stuff, she's amazing!). Because I am lazy efficient I try to avoid pinning when I machine-bind (and I only machine-bind). I would say that pinning would have saved me time here, as I ended up ripping out the binding in spots when the stitch-in-the-ditch from the front method led me to miss the binding on the back and leave it open. Lesson learned.


Based on how hot I got while zig-zag quilting it, I think and hope that the quilt will keep a homeless child warm this winter. I named it peaks and valleys both for the quilting I did (random zig-zags, sort of visible above) and also for its destination. I hope that the student who receives it is not homeless for long, that this is just a valley in her (I'm guessing the gendered colors will hold sway and a girl will get this quilt) life that ultimately has more peaks, including regular shelter.