PhD Challenge Finish No. 1 - Doll Quilt

Done! Done! On to the next one!
Done, I'm done and I'm on to the next!*

I finished the first of my PhD (Projects Half Done) Challenge quilts this evening.  Woo-hoo!

It needed the quilting finished on it and binding.  I had straight-line quilted part of it some months ago and then put it aside to finish when I got  comfortable with free motion quilting.  Yeah, like that's gonna happen.  

Seriously though, I have gotten a little more comfortable with FMQ since participating in the Free Motion Quilt Along (which I am very behind on...more on that another time).

So, okay, it's not perfect—nothing ever is—but it's done, and done is pretty sweet!

I practiced quilting loopy daisies a few times and they still looked like heck, so I decided to just go for it.  My internal dialogue went like this:  It's a doll quilt, for Pete's sake, not the Mona Lisa.  And see?  There are seven little white squares to practice seven more daisies on.  I bet by the time we get to daisy number seven, they will look...less craptastic.

And lo, it came to pass.  The End.

No, not the end.  Let me show you the progression.  Here is daisy number one:

She is some tightly wound little thing, huh?  You can probably feel your shoulders tense just looking at it.  But one has to start somewhere.  I originally quilted just one leaf, but then went back at the end of the other daisies and gave her two more because I felt sorry for her.

And here is the last daisy I quilted:

Better.  Again, not perfect, but DONE!

I used a purple and blue dot vintage feed sack in the backing, as well as what I had left of the '30s reproduction fabrics that I'd won in a giveaway at Sew Happy (thanks again, Kristen!).  

I'll probably like it even more after a trip through the washer and dryer—the quilt, not me; I don't need any more agitation! 

*Can you name that tune?  It's lyrics from "All My Life" by the Foo Fighters.  My musical tastes run the gamut from Beethoven—which I quilted to this evening, believe it or not—to yesterday's Glen Campbell song, to heavy metal.  Oddly enough, when I finished this little doll quilt, I felt like rocking to the Foo.  I guess I like a little salty with sweet.  Balance, right?