Done!

Gracie has been gone for a few days, so I've been working like a mad mama on her quilt. I did the top a while ago. Then I had to figure out the backing, which I did. Then I had to put it together, which was the hard part. I was pleased with the top and loved the backing before I had to rig it a little to make it bigger. (Bad measurement girl here.)

I totally understand why people spend money to send their quilts off to be quilted. It was a nightmare. I thought it would be tedious, but do-able. I had no idea. Very frustrating. I'm really disappointed with how I finished it. But it's done. It's easily the biggest project I've ever done at any time in my life.  
Over time the stitches will loosen and no one really will tell how bad it really is. And Gracie will love it and take it to college with her and  . . . Is that overly optimistic? :)
She'll love it and it will be used. And it was a learning experience for me. That's all that matters, right?
It's probably my last quilt for awhile. It was a doozy of a first one, though. I'm thinking about starting slow on a t-shirt quilt, just doing one whole block at a time, then blanket stitching them together. I haven't really decided yet.
I'm going to take a sharpie and write some info on the back of the quilt, i.e. that I made it for Grace, the date and for her 5th birthday summer. Some bloggers I read have actual tags that they make or have made. I'm thinking about it. Is that pretentious? Would it be pretentious to put a tag in one of the dinky little handmade gifts I give with my name and logo on it? Do I care if it's pretentious? Of course I have to design a logo. In order to order from etsy, you have to create a shop name, so I'm already madeforyoubylulu. Big L and ladybugs around? Dunno. Thinking.