The twitter-followers know I've been working on this for a while, but I haven't mentioned it here because I didn't want to jinx myself. Regardless, my part in the process is done:

['Assembly no longer required (2)' on flickr]

I should have started this project years ago, but I was too chickenshit to do it. Years ago, on a visit to Heather and Andy, Heather offered to assemble a quilt top for me if I bought the fabric. I did, and she started working on it, but life eventually became too busy and she sent the pieces back to me, with all of the instructions and equipment I'd need to get started.

The box held enough fabric and squares to do at least two quilts.

While in Washington, a morning chat over tea with Debbie (Adam's mom) caused her to bring out the quilt top she was working on. I told her the story of the unfinished quilt top, and to say that she was encouraging was an understatement. She reminded me that it wasn't always about skill, but instead about patience and precision. I didn't have to be utterly knowledgeable. I just needed to follow directions, cut straight, and sew straight.

I toyed with the idea of giving the fabric away to someone with more skill, but resolved on the plane to at least pull the box out and look at the fabric. When I did, I realized there was no way in hell I was giving this fabric away. It had been years since I'd picked it out, but the combination of colors and patterns had my tastes and opinions stamped all over them.

I started reading over the books, and after waiting a few days to see if this was a passing urge, I got started. Working with the rotary cutter just made sense to me, and the process gelled more quickly than I had expected.

Even more surprisingly, to me? I actually liked the process.

Of course, there had to be geekery involved somewhere along the way. In my case, it was using the camera to shoot images of each square, cropping the images down in photoshop, and then importing them all into Illustrator to determine the final layout:

[The quilt: the plan' on flickr]

The original version of the photo was large enough to allow me to read the ID number of each square. It made final assembly surprisingly easy. All I have left now is to clip the threads, iron the seams flat, and toddle off in the next few days to buy batting and backing before handing it off to a quilter to assemble the finished product.

I never thought I'd say this, but I enjoyed piecing this quilt top, and am looking forward to doing another. (The world may have just officially ended.)