Picking up from yesterday –
So, I picked the main color of my quilt. (They call that the sashing.) I opted to not have little squares of color between my t-shirt squares after all, because after talking it over with Janet and seeing pictures of other quilts, I learned that that looks best on small quilts with a small amount of t-shirt squares. The pops of color help kind of fill out the look of the quilt.
I picked burgundy for the binding to get a bit of my red fix in, but still have something not overwhelming that goes well with purple.
My understanding is that a lot of people do the sashing and backing the same color, but I decided I wanted them to be different. So, I picked a royal blue for the back. I think it’ll go well with the front (if it ever gets folded over). It goes will with the binding. And I feel it’ll break things up nicely instead of having one color all over my quilt.
Then, I got to write in what I wanted on my lines of embroidery. I’d actually written it down ahead of time on my phone so I had it. (I wanted to be absolutely sure I got the dates right.)
The embroidery will say:
Aurora De Lucia
52 Half Marathons In 52 Weeks
January 15, 2012 – January 13, 2013
Before you knew it, everything was done. I handed over my sample packet. (I wanted to make sure I brought it back since I have no idea how many they lose over the course of mailing them to who knows how many people).
I left with my empty suitcase. It was so weird, feeling like I’d come in with all that stuff, and poof! Now it was gone.
I know earlier I said it was a little bittersweet getting rid of everything, but walking out without it all, knowing it was going to be transformed into one beautiful piece was actually pretty freeing and awesome!
I’m glad I got to take a filed trip to Keepsake Theme Quilt‘s shop. But, I wouldn’t feel nervous at all sending things in from Los Angeles, because they completely know what they’re doing over there. I totally trust the people there and know they would’ve made it look great, even if I wouldn’t have been there in person.
They make small paper squares you can cut out so you can tag your own shirts from home. Keepsake Theme Quilts tries to make things as easy as possible while giving the customer complete control. They’re definitely quite awesome, and someday when I do a marathon in all 50 states, I’m sure I’ll be going back to them.
I’ll talk more about their awesome company tomorrow.