A Long, Long Journey - Lake Effect

A mild celebration occurred late Wednesday night as I took the very last stitch on the piecing of Lake Effect. This near 10-year journey has had its ups and downs - 'ups' with my eagerness to start the quilt and with learning from some very seasoned stitchers how to back-baste applique; 'downs' with learning that I'd mis-measured the size of my hexies and that rather than attempting to 'figure it out,' I should have bought the pattern before making hundreds of hexies in the wrong size.

I did eventually buy the pattern, which helped a lot with the applique parts; I fudged a lot of putting the hexies together with the center and the border. This quilt is a strong representative of the notion "finished is better than perfect." I have quite a primitive-looking quilt in places.

You can see that all four corners of the inner border need to be tidied up. I have plenty of the vine fabric put aside for this purpose, as well as fabric for an extra leaf or two, should it be warranted. I really am flying by the seat of my pants at this point.

I took it on Thursday to Nobleton to trim excess from the back - shown above - and to remove papers. It has been a daunting journey, but I am so glad and relieved to be this close to the finish line, at last. 

The final part to be done on this was attaching the bottom section of hexies to the lower edge of the applique border. I had a bit of a conundrum which I stewed over before deciding how to proceed.

The stitching line for the white border did not come down to the wide part of the hexies, so I had to decide if it was worth it to insert all those little points. I didn't want to, but I eventually did it. It was the best way, honestly.

I cut the last of the full hexies in half and used them in the points. It seemed more tedious than it was, actually. I made the right decision.

Until I get back to Ohio, I am through with Lake Effect. At some point - soon, I promise! - I will finish off that vine and the leaves, then I will have completed Lake Effect to the flimsy stage. I have some ideas on how I will quilt it; I must marinate with that for awhile.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne