Sneak peek

(First, before I begin this post, I have to state for the record that one of the things I continually see online that grates on me like you wouldn't believe is the phrase "sneak peak." A peak is the pointed top of a mountain; a peek is a quick look. Please, crafty bloggers, show us your sneak peeks, not your sneak peaks!)

Here's a sneak peek of a little quiltie that I worked up as a gift for a very special grandmother of mine. Her birthday is tomorrow, so I sent her a little something. It is little--about 10" square. It was my first paper-pieced quilt, and it contains 184 pieces in those 10". It took me about 6 hours to piece and a good 8 hours to hand-quilt, but I think it's totally worth it. 

Unfortunately, even though my gramma will be opening the gift at her party on Sunday, I won't be able to reveal the finished project until much later. The theme/challenge for my swap group's February swap is paper piecing. I've done a lot of searching online, and have decided to use this same pattern, though at a different scale, for my February swap quilt. I won't be hand-quilting that one, and I'll be using completely different fabrics, but I don't want to ruin the pattern surprise with a full reveal. 

So, here's your sneak peek at a little quiltie that took hours and hours to create and has a little love in every stitch. That's the beauty of the handmade. 

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