Ojibwe Finished

This quilt was originally designed as a wedding quilt in 2005 inspired by Ojibwe bead work, but done in the favorite colors of the bride to be. I had spent quite a bit of time in New England and the museums of Washington DC that year admiring and taking photos of Native American beadwork. 

There are several reasons this got set aside.  
1) I got bored making 4 repeats of the same designs
2) I wished that I had done this in more traditional beadwork colors (lots of blue and on a white background).
3) She didn't get married
4) I didn't want to give it away anyway.
5) When I pulled it out to work on years later, I hated the green fabric that I'd used for the leaves.
6) I kept changing my mind about the quilting
7) I swore I would never FMQ a black quilt ever again. 

In the end, I have mixed feelings about the flowers I added in red.  I am very fond of the red/yellow ones in the center.  But the green thread blended into the background too much so the others seem to randomly float. 

I did all the gridwork and outer lines without a ruler.  Even though I drew those lines on, I have trouble driving that machine consistently in a straight line. 

Some is reasonably straight.

Others very much not. 

I considered re-stitching these sections.  But I was reminded of another quilting "disaster" when a friend reminded me "It's art, it adds to the charm."

One more that I'll be able to submit for the Finish-A-Long.

My original goal list post