attic stairs quilt

Yesterday I finished my attic stairs quilt. This one has been in the works for a very long time, but I finally pushed through to get it put together.

I've been wanting to teach myself how, so I hand quilted this one. Nothing fancy -- just rows of cross-stitch-like Xs. I don't own (or have room for) a quilting frame, but I'd read about a few quilters who actually preferred to just do it in their laps, pulling tightly at the fabric as they went. That method worked great for me; I actually found it incredibly soothing and often found myself excuses (i.e. Netflix series) to get comfortable on the couch and work on it. For a first quilt, I'm quite pleased at my efforts. I especially like how the back of the quilt looks, all covered in diamond criss-crosses.

I had so many scraps and sewed together so many blocks that I actually have another quilt top just like this one just waiting to be sandwiched and stitched together. I'll get to that one eventually (I ran out of backing fabric working on this one, so I'll need to pick up some more), but I have a few other projects in the line up that I'd like to tackle first -- one of which is a new quilt for our bed. The one we're currently using is worn and threadbare, and I think I'm finally ready to tackle a larger sized quilt for the first time. For my Christmas gift from him, Blake let me pick out the fabric for it. I'm brimming with nervous excitement to get started.

But until then, I'm sure going to enjoy snuggling up under this one.