T is for Thomas

I am working on a quilt for my nephew Thomas. I've been working on this quilt for over 3 years! It's right up the top of my "must finish" list. It's an applique quilt from an "initial swap".

An initial swap is fairly simple. We had 12 in our group. Each person cuts out 12 large squares of background fabric. On one of them you applique/stitch/whatever a letter of the alphabet. The whole bundle is then sent to the next person. They take a square and they stitch onto it something that starts with the letter you've chosen. At the end of the month, everything is then sent onto the next person. After 12 months you get back 12 squares - your initial initial and 11 pictures.

I chose "T" for "Thomas". And I got back some lovely work from some lovely ladies who put a fair bit of thought into it. Since receiving the squares they have sat in my project box. Recently (ie this year) I decided to put them together. I'm working with a quilt as you go scheme (never done that before). About a month ago I stalled.

Tonight, I cut out enough squares of wadding and backing to put all the squares together. Now I just have to quilt them, bind them together, and bind the quilt. I have actually finished 5 of the 12 squares, so I'm further ahead than I thought was.

I'm tempted to aim for one square quilted each day, but I'm keen to not box myself in. I know myself well :-) If "rules" are flexible there's far more chance of me succeeding at this "creativity every day" gig.