Wrath of the Creeper

I don't even want to tell you the story of this quilt: it's so convoluted. And such a terrible comment on my self-discipline up until the present moment (I've recently discovered that self-discipline is simply a matter of setting a time to do something, then doing it. Works amazingly well.).

The fact is, I bought this fabric to make a quilt for my oldest son when he was about 5. This year he turned 16. Yeah. Pathetic, I know. It was just about my first quilt, and although my cuts were pretty accurate, my early blocks were sewn with inexact seam allowances, and sometimes I pressed the seams open instead of to the side. And my blocks were joined a bit haphazardly, too. I had no concept of following a pressing direction for blocks and rows, so the seams went all over the place at the back. But over the years, as my quilting knowledge improved, so did my technique. I also changed machines twice, and used a total of four different presser feet as I sewed.

Consequently, as I happily sewed on my last row and pronounced the quilt finish for the first time (a couple years ago), I little suspected that I would later measure it to discover that the quilt was several inches narrower at the top than at the bottom. Grrr.

In frustration, I hid the completed quilt top in my sewing cupboard. I was unhappy with it, but wasn't sure what to do to fix its problems. In the end, I plucked up the courage to start picking it apart... I had the idea that I would resew the squares together in 6x6 blocks (about 24" across), and the use a quilt-as-you-go method to join the sections.

In the meantime, with Connor growing older, I began itching to make him a video game-related quilt -- something that reflected his current interests. Then I saw this picture on his computer screen one day:

Hmm. The monster whose face is depicted above is called a "creeper" and it appears in the game Minecraft. You can see how easily he would translate into quilt squares. And since I already had numerous squares in shades of green (okay, and blue and orange and purple), I could easily imagine myself adding in some black squares to make creeper faces, and voila! The quilt was reinvented as a teenage boy's video game quilt. The photo below shows the completed quilt top on my queen-size bed.

It has since gone off to be machine quilted -- I let Connor pick the backing, thread and quilting pattern, and he has chosen to call the quilt "Wrath of the Creeper". He is eager to get it back and put it on his bed. I am happy to finally have this project off my sewing table!