Finally, A Finished Quilt

Yesterday, about seven hours before my brother arrived for his birthday dinner, I finished his quilt. I finished his quilt that I started for him in 2004. Let's just take a second to put that in perspective. That was before I lived in this house. In fact, it was two homes ago. It was before I had kids. It was before I was married. It was before I had even met my husband. Yeah, basically, I was a completely different person back then. The single, middle school math teacher, who really didn't have much time for her newish quilting hobby.

baseball quilt

Oh, and by the way, I actually gave my brother this quilt as a Christmas present in 2004 (photo above). I think that was his Junior year of high school. I wrapped up about eight finished blocks for his gift and then "was going to finish it up for him." See, he even tried them on. And fake slept. ;-) Well, here we are, twelve years later. I know there are people with WIPs older than mine, but come on. They are snowball blocks. I've completed over 40 quilts (granted, many of them mini quilts) since I started his. Sheesh!

I'm thrilled to have finally finished this gift for him. I'm also relieved to not have the weight of a twelve-year-old WIP on me. I haven't yet determined what my next oldest WIP is, the quilt that will now fill that taunting role in my life. It's just better not to know. ;-)

While I was working to quilt it in the last few days, my son came in and asked me what I was doing. Now, he's a quilter. He knew I was quilting the quilt. I was confused. It turns out, what he wanted to know was what patterns I was quilting. He said he thought I would be quilting baseball players and baseballs and stuff. (The kid clearly thinks my free motion skills are beyond where they are.) So together we joked that maybe we could find some parts that looked like players in my meandering quilting. Here's what he, my sister and I came up with:

Player fielding a ground ball:

Pitcher:

Catcher:

Runner:

 

The back is simple. I used up the last of my baseball mitt fabric. (The last of the red baseball fabric went on the back of my daughter's first quilt.) and I snuck in some of the red fabric that I used when I made my kids' baseball clothes.

 

Here's the 58" x 83" quilt all washed and crinkly, just in time to give to Chris.

 

 

My son excitedly helped deliver the gift.

I named this quilt Finally. I'm glad that got a chuckle from Chris when he received it. He also appreciated that my label has washing instructions on it. :-)

Happy 28th Birthday, Chris!

I'm linking up to the Q3 Finish Along finishes party. See all my Q3 WIPs in my goal post.

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26 thoughts on “Finally, A Finished Quilt

    1. sarah

      Post author

      Yes, and he was hoping to get it. He told friends at work that he'd bring it today to show off. Glad I delivered! :-)

      Reply
  1. I am so excited that you were able to get this quilt finished and gifted to your brother; what an excellent birthday present! I also can totally see the shapes that you describe in the meander quilting. What a fun way to view the quilt (through the eyes of creative children). :)

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      I had him try on the quilt top (before it was quilted) a while back... so I think he was expecting it.

      Reply
  2. Cathy

    Ta Da! Love the players! (glad you didn't do one of baseball players doing one of the things they are famous for!)

    Reply
  3. Being a baseball fan, I am thrilled that Finally (great name!) is done and gifted to your brother. I hope some good baseball vibes head to San Francisco and the Giants FINALLY start winning again! So fun to read about this quilt's history and journey, and the pics of the different baseball players in your meandering quilting made my day!

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Thank you, Mary! I'm so glad to have finished it time for his birthday. It's shocking but this is the first quilt I've given my brother. Glad you enjoyed the story!

      Reply
  4. Johanna Chew

    What fun and what a patient, sweet brother you have. I really enjoyed this story, Sarah. Thanks for telling it. Besides being delightful, it gives me hope that I can finish some long-overdue projects, too. All is not lost.

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Thank you, Johanna. Sweet, patient and forgetful. ;-) It's been on my radar for most of the last 12 years, but I brought it to his attention around the beginning of this year and he'd forgotten about it. When I sent pictures it jogged his memory, which is why he was kind of expecting it for his birthday. Glad I delivered! :-) I took a long, hard look at my WIP list and tried to "trim the fat" but there weren't too many projects I was willing to part with. I think the secret is to choose which old project you want to focus on and do it alongside working on something that you enjoy more. The baseball quilt has been making slow progress for months, but any progress counts. Eventually that leads to a finish. :-)

      Reply
  5. A great finish to a very fun story. I have read about this WIP before. I bet you are so glad to check this off the list. Your brother will enjoy it and you can breathe a sigh of relief. :-) Good finish and I enjoyed hearing about your son's conversation. What a cutie.

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Yep, you've seen this one again and again on the blog. I am happy to have kicked it into the done column. Just got back from a weekend camping and the kids start school this week. I need to take some time to think about what I want to focus on. I have a couple mini swaps and some challenge quilts I'd like to work on. But there are a lot of WIPs I'm hot to make progress on as well. Just not enough hours in the day! Thanks for visiting, Bernie!

      Reply
  6. Well done! I know how hard it is to go back to the old of WIPS and finish it! He looks really pleased to get it Finally! Congratulations on the finish and thanks for linking up to the FAL quarter three on behalf of your team of hosts

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Thank you so much, Nicky! It was a huge weight lifted to have my oldest WIP done and out of the way!

      Reply

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