where it belongs, finally

When I got to the binding, Lily asked me to just sew it all by machine, saying she'd already been waiting so many days for it to be finished.

I tried machine binding.

And after about 6 inches (which included my first corner) I asked if I could please sew it by hand.

She said, "No." 

Said she didn't care if it wasn't perfect, she just was ready for her quilt.

So I re-did those few inches (I'd not caught the binding in 3 spots! in that little bitty span!)

And it looked crappy.

And I still missed a little section of binding, so I told her I was sorry, I just had to do it by hand.

At the rate I was going, I wasn't sure it would be much slower than machine binding anyways...

I told her I'd be finished with the binding by Thursday.

I was finished by Wednesday.

But it took me part of Thursday and all of Friday to knot and bury all those threads.

165 squares, each with a flower free-motion quilted in the center.

One start and one stop on each flower

equals 330 thread that had to be brought to the back, knotted, and buried.

I thought this would be a good idea why??

Fortunately, on about half of the starts/stops 

I was able to just cut the threads, because I has traveled over them sufficiently to lock the stitch.

So I didn't really have to knot and bury 330 threads 

(or 660, since there is a top and bottom thread to each start and stop. if we want to get technical...)

I sent my best sewing girlfriend a text 

and asked her to whop me upside the head if I ever breathe a word of this knotting and burying nonsense again.

Anyways.

It was finally finished (my whining and the quilt) late Friday night,

and I wish you could've seen the look on her face when I asked Lil' to grab the laundry out of the dryer

and she found her quilt instead, all perfectly crinkled and properly fluffed.

Lily wanted to help photograph it, and for one reason or another, it took us another few days for that to happen...

It's already been drug around the house, played on, slept with, and even thrown-up on.

(it's had a really busy week.)

Without further delay,

Lily's quilt. Where it belongs - with her.

Linking up with Elizabeth's with needle and thREAD ~  but I can't manage reading and sewing these days.
Also linking up with my quilting mentor, AmandaJean.