How about that? A project I started and FINISHED. Completed. All done!

It really helps when I have a deadline. I made this as a gift for my mother’s 69th birthday.  This decorative little quilt is from a pattern I bought from Jo James’ Etsy shop Cart Before the Horse.

I loved every minute of making it (and I’ve never quilted in my life!) EXCEPT for painting the faces. I am not a painter and trying to get the faces how I wanted them was a bit trying. Some of the faces were redone so often they became shiny. Click on the image to see it larger. I quilted the entire thing by hand since I didn’t have a clue how to do it on the sewing machine. I found that I love the hand sewing. My mother LOVED it (and that is the truly important part.) I am thinking of taking up quilting some time in the future since I enjoyed the hand sewing so much.

I saw Jo and Dylan’s art on Jo’s blog Cart Before The Horse and wished I could give my mother something of theirs. Their Folk Art style is exactly what my mother likes. To find that Jo had some patterns for making her little cheater quilts was the beginning of one of my biggest projects in years. As my daughter, Jennie, said, “Mother, what were you thinking?”

As usual, I wasn’t thinking. This time not thinking didn’t come out so bad.