What the hell was I thinking?

I was digging through old emails and I found my original "please make me a square" request for the quilt. This was back in the before time, when I knew absolutely nothing about quilting.

Wasn't I adorable? This all seemed so easy before I'd ever tried piecing anything together, ever. Somehow sewing over the giant clump of fabric in the center of each design never entered my mind.

I also didn't realize how restrictive this was! I must have been huffing some serious glue to think that I could get so many unique snowflakes roller derby skaters to be content following such a specific, limiting pattern. I would have been lucky to receive anything other than a few cookie-cutter squares and a TON of others that didn't adhere to the rules.

Live and learn, I guess. I can definitely say I've learned a lot during this process. I'm still new to quilting, and I have a long way to go before I can ever hope to claim to know what I'm doing. However, looking at this, I can see how far I've come in my understanding and respect for this medium.