"Finished"

Finally finished---

The dream for this wall hanging began back in November 2017. At our quilt guild meeting that month, my name was drawn for one of the three door prizes. I got a charm pack of the "Hit The Spots" grunge fabric by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics. On the way home that night the thought ran through my mind, "I am going to make something with this charm pack. I am going to finish it and I am going to take it to a quilt guild meeting for "Show and Tell". Eighteen months later I accomplished what I had sat out to do. Sometimes it takes me longer to do a project than I had thought it would.

A few days after I got the charm pack, I went to Country Stitches in East Lansing, Michigan to try to find a coordinating, light (in color) fabric.  I didn't know at the time my journey was just beginning. I discovered that there were lots of "grunge" fabrics. I chose a light beige for my background, went home and started making half square triangles. I probably ended up with about eighty 4 1/2" squares.

When I started laying the squares out, I discovered that I wanted to make a wall hanging and I did not have enough squares. On line I found a website where I could order another charm pack and they even had free shipping. So I ordered it. When the charm pack came, I began making more half square triangles. When I finished those squares, I started to try to figure out the layout, and I discovered that the possibilities were numerous. I tried several layouts and you can see the one I decided on below. I finished the top but different things started happening and I was never able to decided if I was going to quilt it myself or if I was going to have a friend do it who has a long-arm business. Earlier this year I decided to have my friend do the quilting. A couple of weeks ago, I got every thing finished (the binding and attaching the sleeve for hanging) and got it hung. I love the design and I love how it looks in my living room. It makes me happy.

When some friends saw it, they wanted to know who I had made it for. They looked at me strangely when I said, "For me." Yes, for myself. It makes me happy when I have a chance to set down and look at it hanging on the wall "finished". I deserve to have a wall hanging in my living room that I made and I deserve to be pleased when I look at it.