Wagon Wheel Quilt. Done.

I finished it last night and this morning I threw it in the wash for a quick rinse/spin cycle and then into the dryer it went.  You can't help but want to curl up with these things when they're all warm and fluffy and wrinkly, right out of the dryer!  Mmm...there's nothin' better.  I can't though.  It's kind of a secret quilt.  I'm trying not to draw too much attention to it.

The inspiration for this quilt came from here.

This is my first quilt that I made completely by myself.  No longarmer.  Just me and my little machine.  I've quilted some smaller runners before, but this was a pretty big project for me [65x44].  It went really well.  I think I only got one tiny little tuck as I quilted it.  Like one little stitch accidently caught a little extra fabric that it shouldn't have.  I'm feeling pretty good right now though.  Dare I say even a little proud of myself?  Just because I didn't spend any money on the quilting part of it and it turned out fairly well.  That makes me feel good inside.

Q. Katie said, "You should be so proud! This turned out beautifully. Did you draw your lines for the quilting? How did you get them so straight?"

A. Well, I used blue "painters tape" to mark my lines. Each piece of tape would stay sticky for 2 or 3 rows and then I would get a new piece of tape. I started in the middle of my quilt and then put a piece of tape on either side of that first line so I could do two lines without having to get up and reposition the tape again.  Plus, it didn't sound too fun to me to spend a half an hour [at least] marking my lines, so I just did it as I went.  Like I said, this was my first time, so this is what appealed to me.  I often just make do with what I have.  Plenty of painters tape.  No water soluble marker.  Go figure.

I used Amy Butler's Sun Spots in Mint for the binding.  I chose to do it on the bias so that the dots were a little more staggered.  I love the colors of it!

Here's the back: 

It's Nicey Jane's Hop Dot in Cream.  I was just barely shy on my width, so I decided to use up some more scraps for a pieced strip going down the middle of it.  I wanted a light back so that my white thread would blend a little more, just in case my quilting job wasn't pretty:)

At the last minute, I decided I better put a label on this baby so I did a quick stitch of some important info about this quilt right onto the back.  Blake's baptism isn't until October, so for once, I'm ahead of schedule.  I wanted to put our city and state, but ran out of room so this will have to do. 

This one brought a big sense of accomplishment.  Thanks for all of your support and tips.  Maybe next time, I'll get myself some basting pins.  Then it won't be physically scary.  Maybe just a little emotionally scary.  It actually wasn't too bad though:)

***P.S. Today I'm going to the printer for the final proof of my patterns.  I'm so excited!!!***