I Had Myself a Quiltin' Bee

One of the "rewards" I planned for myself upon finishing my thesis was to work on a little quilting project.  I started this quilt about a year ago - just because I had some scraps of flannel and denim and felt like doing something with them.  When I found out months later that Toasty was on the way, I knew I'd finish it for him/her . . . but not until the thesis was done!

Well, fast forward to the weeks following my defense and combine that with five full days of solitary confinement (Gregg was partying it up in Mexico) and you get this, the finished product:

The top - the pinwheels were made from the same flannel I made my
big raggy flannel blanket that sits on the couch
and some old jeans (my usual choice in quilting fabric).

The back - I tried something new with this quilt with the stripe
of  pieced flannel strips on the back instead of a solid backing of one color.

I'm quite pleased with the results, though it definitely is not without flaws.  (The perfectionist inside of me can show you exactly where there the rows don't line up and the edges aren't square and my first-attempt at machine quilting caused some bunches.)  But I keep telling myself Toasty won't care.  And really, while the finished product is nice, it was actually the sewing of it (and a lot of seam-ripping, too, I'll be honest) that was fun for me.