Coming to the end...

It's amazing to me how many little details crop up as I approach the end of a project. Every time I think this quilt is done, I think of something else that needs doing.

I almost let my stubbornness overshadow my better judgment again. When I put the last of the beads on this yesterday late, I so wanted to be done. But that piping around the arbor area had been bugging me ever since I did the quilting. It no longer lay nicely along that seam, but puckered and rippled and stuck out over the unevenness created by the quilting. The thought of another delay to hand stitch the loose edge down was almost more than I could stand. But I knew I'd never be happy if I didn't give it a go, see if indeed tacking it down would make it look better. So I spent the time today, using the YLI heirloom silk thread to make the stitches as unobtrusive as possible, and it was definitely worth the effort.

But I wasn't done yet. In the course of handling, the edge had stretched a bit, some of the fused leaves had lifted, other fused areas had frays needing a trim. I still needed to make and sew on a hanging sleeve as well as compose, print and sew on a label. After all that, it will need one final steaming and passes with a lint roller. I took care of most of that - just the label, blocking and de-linting left, so I thought I'd snap a quick picture to show you the end results. Click on the picture for a larger view to see more detail. And here is a shot of a beading detail I hadn't shown yet.