Hard to believe it is finished

     I hardly ever buy a kit. I don't usually like the fabric or the pattern. I don't want to make something a jillion others are making. But too many years ago, I was at Quilters Corners in Ithaca, NY and the fabric in the kit and sample sang its siren song. I don't know why- I am not a neutrals person. I loved every bit of fabric in the bag. I asked if I could buy the same fabric without the kit, but they had used the whole bolts in the kits. I swallowed hard and my husband bought it as an Anniversary present for me. 
     When I got home and took it apart, I was unhappy with the directions because they called for cutting and fusing the raw edge slashes over the seam. Raw edge sets my teeth on edge, sorry. I can't imagine how bulky that would have been. I ended up instead of sewing the two slashed blocks together, sewing the slash strip to either side of the blocks. I was not happy that I could not get the inner squares to meet perfectly on either side of the slash, so it sat a long time. Finally, I grit my teeth and sewed all the squares. Assembling the quilt was not hard.
      Then it sat again for a long while because those not lined up center squares made me unhappy, but I could not change them. In May, I finally loaded the top on the longarm and then there was a three month redo of the longarm basement space. Eventually, I started quilting it. I quilted all the light squares with lines that alternated 90 degrees from the one next to it. In the dark small blocks, I quilted one design on one half the block, and another on the other side of the slash. I did the big gray blocks the same way.
      It took forever. I am the slowest longarmer on the planet. It did get finished, I trimmed it, and laid it on the floor in the family room and went to get the camera. And Tugger somehow roused himself from slumber and found the quilt by the time I came back with the camera. How does he do that?
     I pinned the quilt on the design wall for photos. And, oh yes, I still have to bind it before it is totally done. Looking for some real dark gray. When I put the binding on, I will photo the backing. 
     And those inner squares are still bugging me. It was called Square Value and I have the pattern around here in my files.