under the wire

Now it really is finished, without a second to spare.  I literally took it out of the dryer and got into the car to take it to the auction.  It was one of those situations where I really wish I'd had (or really taken better advantage of) ten more minutes.  The rush meant that Alex didn't have enough time to acclimate to the busy and the noise.   

There are so many kids here.  Some tears. 

His wonderful teacher held him for the beginning of the sing ("Danny Boy" + "Toora Loora Loora"--he whispered along) and by the time they were ready for his specialty ("Michael Finnegan"), he was back in business.

This wonderful teacher is part of our wonderful preschool, where the classrooms are painted (and named) yellow, green, and blue, hence the fabrics.  The top is modeled after this beautiful quilt, though the fabrics are from a variety of lines.




















I cut the 16 fat quarters that made the team (I smiled when I saw this collection, because three of the fabrics I used appear there as well--which I'm wrangling into some sort of personal fabric selection validation, since I really love all of Rashida's work) into 17 inch squares, and arranged and rearranged for a good while.  I do wish I could swap one of the dark blues for one of the greens in the upper right corner, but every switch necessitated another, like dominoes, and so I finally drew the line and sewed them together.

The backing is mainly some (soft!) chambray that I already had, along with some scrappy patchwork from the prints.  I really had almost nothing left, but I'm so glad to have used what I did for something I'm keeping because I love this combination of fabrics.  A lot.



















I quilted it in thread to match the binding, a risk I'm really glad I took, with imperfect (Jacquie calls them organic) lines about an inch apart--this took forever with a capital F.  I finally found a speed that my walking foot could handle without the process stealing years of my life.  It's bound in the teal-on-teal dots, along with some Kona everglade.
















It's home for the weekend so I could photograph it and go over the binding, and then back to school on Monday it goes, to meet its owner.  Next up is Alex's quilt (while I was working on this one, he kept asking, "Is that for me?")--but this one is hard enough to let go that I can see its cousin somewhere off in the future.