making a quilt takes FOREVER.
Seriously. It's hard work. FIVE YEARS of work, in fact.
It's such an awesome pattern--called Love Beads--and is from the book The Modern Quilt Workshop by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle of Funquilts. (The book is one of my favorites--it was one of the first things that really sparked my interest in making modern patchwork.)
I pieced the top back in the fall of 2004, and started quilting it sometime over that winter. I wanted to be all ambitious with the hand quilting, so I had the brilliant idea to free hand, thin spirals in all the circles. And while it looks GREAT, I burned out on it quickly. It's been sitting, collecting dust and pet fur ever since.
It's one of those projects that I felt really guilty about leaving there. I really thought it had the potential to be a fantastic finished quilt, but the idea of hand quilting THAT much....ugh. No thanks.
In keeping with my post from a few weeks ago, I've just been trying to weigh out what I REALLY want to be making these days. For the past few years I've focused my energy into making items for craft shows and Etsy, and while I still enjoy doing that, I really came to the conclusion that I've not finished much for myself over that time. Between really slow sales at shows and online (which is depressing when it's all that you foucs on), I decided it was time to get back to quilting circles.
And you know what? I enjoyed it.
The circles are done, and I'm on to the major task of finishing this bad boy off. I've started marking out my diagonal stripes that will serve as the background. To my surprise, it's moving fast. I'm hoping at this point I can have the quilting finished off by the end of March. It's going to be a stretch, but I think it's possible.
That way, no one can tell me that I don't finish what I start.