Gypsy Wife Sloth Quilt

I'm doing a happy dance this morning: one of my oldest projects is finally done!

I started this quilt when I started the blog, so I feel like it's almost full circle to have finished this! (Don't worry, I'm not planning on abandoning the blog!).  One of my first blog posts talks about the inspiration behind it: I joined a quilt along for the Gypsy Wife pattern, but really wanted to make another Elizabeth Hartman sloth after I made one for a swap.  So I made the giant sloth and just started slotting blocks from the Gypsy Wife pattern in around it.

I wish I could take credit for the black and white stripes, but that was based on someone else's idea around the time of the swap.  Unfortunately, four years later I have no idea who that was.  And I have to say, doing the print black stripes was not my best decision - it was a lot of work lining up all those ice cream flavor names!  In fact, I'm pretty sure the names not lining up was the reason that this quilt got placed in time out.  A solid, or near solid like the white stripes, would have been much easier.  But when I pulled it out, I fixed the problem by simply making a new block to fill in the problem area.  Nice and simple!

In the box with the project, I found this IKEA tablecloth that I purchased around the time that I started the quilt.  It is 100% cotton, but feels slightly thicker.  Not quite canvas but more heavy-duty than cotton.  I'm wouldn't pick it today to back a quilt, but I decided to trust my earlier self and just go with it.  I went with "inspired by straight lines" quilting - it's in the ditch between the black and white stripes, but just eyeballed where it crosses over blocks.  I didn't have any problems with the quilting and I liked the extra weight the quilt had in my lap while I was hand-binding.  As a bonus, I had about 18 inches leftover after I trimmed it and I just hemmed that right up for a couple of kitchen towels!

The most interesting thing about pulling out a scrappy quilt you haven't worked on in over three years is seeing how much your style and stash have changed.  The best part about pulling out a scrappy quilt you haven't worked on in over three years is finally crossing it off your WIP list!

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This quilt was my monthly goal over at Elm Street Quilts and I'm linking up my successful finish there!