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You know those awards they give out in school, “best in reading”, “best in art”, etc, well, in kindergarten, I was named “most optimistic”.  I think that my optimistic qualities were truly apparent at that early age, or the teacher ran out of awards to give, and that was all she could think of.   (in my defense, in 1st grade I got best in math – quite a comeback from “the happy kid”).

Anyway, the optimistic quality often comes through at times when it can be frustrating to others.  Case in point – when I’m 15 miles from the house (all suburban, not interstate, mind you) I’ll tell my husband that I should be there (home) in 15 minutes.  Considering that not a single road has the speed limit of 60mph, and that there are ALWAYS red lights, oh yes, and OTHER cars on the road, that “15 minutes” is actually 35.  Maybe even 40.  But its not that I’m trying to lie… its that I really think I can do it.  And I never give up 

When I started this quilt, much like every other quilt I’ve started, I’ve thought “I’ll have this one done in 10 hours”.   HA! Talk about the understatement (or most grandiose optimistic statement) of the year!!!  I think piecing the nine blocks took 10 hours alone.  Then piecing and adding the white sashing (2 hours).  Then cutting and piecing the quilt back (3 hours). Then sandwiching (30min).   Then {insert most idiotic quilt move to-date} creating grid quilting pattern with masking tape (2hours).  Then quilting (3 or 4 hours).  THEN THE TWENTY PLUS HOURS OF REMOVING SAID MASKING TAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

****please, for those new to quilting, don’t ever eveR evER eVER EVER use masking tape to grid the quilt.  Now, after the fact, I’ve heard that plenty of people have used painters tape.  I’m scared to try any tape at the moment, because this experience was so traumatic!

Picture the horrific sight of me sitting there for, yes – 20 hours- with tweezers in hand picking off the left over sticky bits from the blasted masking tape.    Then, even after I got all the visible sticky bits off, after washing, it was apparent by the lint attached in certain areas that there was UNSEEN stickiness left!  So, for another 3 or so hours, I sat there picking off the stuck on lint and the rest of the stickiness with the tape-on-tape trick.

And finally, after … let me add this up… 45 hours… my dad had quilt in hand and was grinning from ear to ear.  It was so sweet to see him so moved.

Happy Birthday, Dad!  I love you!  And Dad, please don’t get the idea that you weren’t worth the 45 hours… it was that I had expected it to be 10.  haha…

(i’ll be uploading the larger pics in a few hours!)