A new challenge

One might think the challenge was simply to blog.  It's not that I have no news or nothing going on.  Can't you read the posts I've got written in my head?  Doesn't technology work that way?  That's probably a very good thing, actually.  What goes on in my head is not all publicly interesting.

No, this is the challenge:  To turn 25 painted squares of cloth into a quilt.  

While I've wanted to make a quilt for a while now, I've never done one.  Maybe I needed the challenge to come from someone else and for the challenge to have a short deadline.

In this case, the challenge came from the Girl Guide/Pathfinder troop leaders and the deadline is to have the quilt done in time to take to Mexico and leave at the International Cabana there.  The squares did come with a little note.  "If you don't think you have time, please don't worry about it."  You  could maybe interpret that as "If you don't think you have time, please don't worry about it", but that's not how I read it.  I read it as a personal challenge.  I like people to think I can do anything, that I'm really competent at everything.  (In reality, I like to try things once or twice and then move on to something new, making me an expert in exactly nothing but variety)

Game on!  

On Wednesday night I had the little maple leafs, and yesterday afternoon I had these ideas and was wishing my mother was here or any of my sisters for help.  They've all done this before. 

As an aside, a phrase keeps coming up in my current book that the main character can't figure out.  "Gather the leaves" is repeated often.  What does it mean?  Maybe it actually means "Gather the leaves and make a quilt".  I'll have to keep reading to see if I'm right.

Back to my quilt, I kind of liked the angled leaves, but for my first quilt I thought maybe it would be easier to do one straight.  This morning this is what I have.

I'm quite liking what I have.  Somehow it downplays the somewhat tacky iconic maple leafs and turns it into something nice.  I'm out of leaves, but the idea is to have a bunch of white squares in the bottom corner for the travelling girls to sign their names with fabric pens.  I'm going to put it all together and the girls are going to knot-quilt it. 

The actual deadline is their travel date on March 22, but I'm aiming for next Wednesday's meeting so they have a bit of time to tie the knots. 

I have the sinking feeling that binding this thing will be my undoing, but we'll see.  If all goes well, I'll quickly make something for our own bed!