Urban Worm Completed

Urban Worm has been completed! Which means that my Rock Valley Modern Quilt Guild 'Habitat Challenge' is done. Whew!

I should probably be mortified to tell you all just how glad I am this project is done. Seriously, folks, there were moments that I wanted to just burn this pile and walk away. Mostly because I just wasn't invested in the fabric. I felt obligated to complete the project because we'd signed up for the challenge, but also because we'd been given the fabric.

Then there was the whole challenge portion of this. I'm totally not in love with the Habitat line. Not even close. It's got some interesting prints in it, but overall... Not my bag. And I was working with a whole freaking line! I just don't do that. I've only deliberately bought most of the prints in a line once...

All that said, once I finally buckled down and decided that I would work on this particular project, did I make this mini-quilt easy on myself? Nope. Not. At. All. 

I decided that I would hand applique a 'worm' made up of one quarter Dresden Plates. Then, once the top was done, nothing would do but for me to find one yard of just the right marigold color for the backing. On top of that, I need to get perl cotton in at least four colors to do some chunky, sashiko-style quilting.

Thankfully, I had the top done by the time we were due to to go to the Wisconsin Quilt Expo and I was able to find both the perfect color backing and perl cotton in four colors that were just off enough to bring some more interest to the top.

The backing ended up being a Kaffe Fassett cross-weave cotton, which has a really loose weave. I like it for the texture that it added to the quilt as a whole, but I don't think I'll ever elect to use it again. It's a little pricey, and I don't like the looseness of the weave.

The sashiko-style hand-quilting seemed to take forever.  I don't regret doing it, really. I think it gives a warmth and rustic feel to the quilt, that is desperately needed to alleviate the otherwise unrelenting gray.

Overall, I'm very happy with the final product. I wish I hadn't procrastinated as long on it. It really made Urban Worm drag on when it didn't need to. I still have to wash the quilt; we'll see how it turns out then.