a million tiny triangles that i didn't want to part with.

or so it seemed (technically, it was more like four hundred)...

here is my latest quilt made for one of my oldest and dearest friends' baby, sarah madelyn. per usual i didn't even pick out the pattern or color scheme until she was a few months old and then started to get stressed that i wouldn't finish it before she turned one. some baby gift! but alas, i did finish just shy of her 10 month birthday (about two months ago already!). i'm pretty sure no one was counting anyways (except me, of course).

i picked out this pattern (thousand pyramids) from the same quilting book as my last quilt and quickly got to cutting up many many triangles. the vast majority were 5" tall, but there were some random ones that were actually four tinier triangles sewn into one that i placed throughout the quilt top. all of the fabric for the top were scraps or came from my stash. i keep doing this, but yet it doesn't seem to make a noticeable dent in my overflowing shelf and scrap bags, hmmm. per usual, i forgot to measure the finished size of the quilt before i sent it off, but i made the crib size, which is supposed to measure 47"x59" and i'm guessing it was about right.

the biggest thing i learned from this quilt is that i am not a very precise sewer. in all stages including measuring, cutting, and sewing. i had so many triangle points that didn't match up or got cut off that by the end of this project, i decided that my next goal is to just get better at all of this. i know practice makes perfect and i've been sewing for almost ten years now. but i think i'd like to make some mini quilts or even just lots of quilted hot pads or pillows with different patterns and really be intentional in being precise and practicing different techniques and get all my corners and points in line.

of course, none of this is noticeable to anyone but myself, but i think it's always good to have personal goals to improve your skills and talents, even if no one else is paying attention. and it's exciting too, to work on getting better at something that you really enjoy doing and brings you happiness.

in any case, i really do love this quilt. it was very hard to part with and i'm contemplating making a similar one to keep for ourselves (don't i say this about every quilt i give away? yes, i think i do). or at least one with the same color scheme, because man am i in love with purple-grey-yellow. luckily, i was mailing it off to the sweetest little babe, who i hope to meet in person soon. as always, i spent many of the hours of stitching thinking about her playing on this quilt, or sleeping under it, or building forts with it. and many hours were spent thinking of my dear friend, and how at nine years old when we first met at summer camp, i never could have imagined that twenty-three years later here i would be sewing a quilt for her baby.