The Saga of the Twice Made Quilt

I promised you the story of how this quilt came to be, so here it is. This was the largest quilt I've ever made (130cm x 190cm) and also my first man-quilt.
V-am promis povestea facerii acestui quilt, deci iat-o. Asta a fost cel mai mare quilt pe care l-am facut pana acum (130x190), precum si primul quilt de barbati.

I had the idea in a flash of genius: hey, I could stencil those little dancing people he likes so much on some fabric, then turn the fabric into a quilt! His favourite colour combination being green and black, I went to search for some green fabric. The one below was the only green I could find that was cotton, and large enough. I wasn't crazy about the shade, but I figured it might look different once it was covered in LDPs (= little dancing people).
Ideea mi-a venit intr-o strafulgerare de geniu: hei, as putea picta omuletii aia care-i plac asa de mult pe un material, iar apoi sa fac un quilt din material! Combinatia lui preferata fiind verde cu negru, am plecat in cautare de verde. Singurul verde pe care l-am gasit si care sa fie si bumbac si destul de mare a fost cel de mai jos. Nu ma omoram dupa nuanta, dar m-am gandit ca va arata altfel odata ce va fi acoperit cu ODi (omuleti dansand).

I had a forest green fabric paint which looked quite nice, and I made stencils out of a plastic cover from one of my uni folders (what, it was all I had on hand at the time). And I started painting.
Aveam o vopsea pt textile de un verde-brad care arata bine; am facut sabloane din coperta de plastic a unui dosar pe care-l folosesc la scoala (ce, aia aveam la indemana!). Si m-am apucat de pictat.

1270 done, 2348 to go....
1270 gata, mai am 2348...

To be fair, I estimate about 5 LDPs per block, so that would mean I stencilled approximately 250 of them.
Pentru corectitudine, am estimat cam 5 ODi per bloc, deci asta ar insemna ca am pictat cam 250 in total.

As we all know, Murphy never sleeps! I soon ran out of fabric paint. I ran to the store to get some more, but it was that exact shade that they had run out of. I decided to take the next closest shade. I mean, it was just one number down, how different could it be? This different!
Dupa cum stim, Murphy nu doarme niciodata! Mi s-a terminat repede vopseaua pt textile. Am fugit la magazin sa mai iau dar exact nuanta aia n-o mai aveau. Am luat nuanta cea mai apropiata. In fond, era diferenta de doar un numar, cate de diferita putea sa fie? Asa de diferita!

I mixed it with white and yellow and brown and light green and blue and purple in an attempt to get it closer to the original shade, but what I ended up with was a sort of rancid furry mold colour. Oh well, I went on with it, waiting to see what it would look like when cut into blocks. I ended up with blocks that had both shades, and some blocks that had only one of the shades:
Am amestecat-o cu alb si galben su maro si verde deschis si albastru si mov in incercarea de a o aduce mai aproape de nuanta originala, dar am ajuns la o culoare de mucegai blanos ranced. Ma rog, am mers mai departe, hotarata sa vad cum va arata odata ce mterialul va fi taiat in blocuri. Mi-au iesit blocuri cu ambele nuante, si blocuri care aveau doar una din nuante:

I laid out the blocks on the bed...
Am pus blocurile pe pat...

...and YUCK! Nothing worked: the three greens smashed together, with the black border, it all looked awful to me. There was no way I would offer this as a birthday present. Maybe to a half-blind dog to sleep on.
...si BLEAH! Nimic nu se potrivea: trei nuante de verde trantite impreuna, cu marginea neagra, arata groaznic. N-aveam cum sa ofer asa ceva drept cadou de zi de nastere. Poate unui caine pe jumate orb, sa doarma pe el.

Not sure what to do, I left it aside and went to look for fabric for the other presents.
Nu stiam ce sa fac, asa ca l-am pus deoparte si am plecat sa caut materiale pentru celelalte cadouri.

And what do I find? A huge, oh-so-soft sheet in the perfect shade of green! I'm sure Murphy was snickering down at me while I was standing in the shop, wandering if I should laugh, swear or just buy the damn sheet. I bought it.
Si ce gasesc? Un cearsaf mare, super-moale, in nuanta perfecta de verde! Cred ca Murphy se prapadea de ras in timp ce eu stateam in magazin, intrebandu-ma daca sa rad, sa injur sau sa cumpar naibii materialul. L-am cumparat.

So off come two more plastic folder covers, to be turned into larger stencils, and the process begins again. This time, though, I decided to pre-cut the blocks and only put one large LDP in the middle of each, to save me some time. Also, no more green paint. Black will do, thank you very much. Here's what the first blocks looked like:
Asa ca sunt sacrificate inca doua coperte de dosare, pentru a fi transformate in sabloane mai mari, si procesul reincepe. Insa de data asta am decis sa tai blocurile dinainte si sa pun numai cate un OD mare in mijlocul fiecarui bloc, ca sa mai economisesc timp. De data asta fara vopsea verde, e bine si negru. Iata cum au iesit primele blocuri:

Excited about the obvious improvement, I almost forgot the drudgery of having painted and ironed another 45 LFDPs (little friggin dancing people). I got some pretty well aligned seams too:
Entuziasmata de imbunatatirea evidenta, aproape am uitat efortul si plictiseala de a fi pictat inca 45 de OND (omuletii naibii dansand). Am nimerit si cusaturile destul de aliniate:

Being such a large quilt. I had nowhere to stretch it out in my house. So off I went to take over the landlady's porch: (don't worry, I swept and mopped it 3 times before laying out the quilt)
Fiind un quilt asa de mare, n-aveam unde sa-l intind in casa. Asa ca am ocupat terasa gazdei: (fiti fara grija, am maturat si am mopuit de 3 ori inainte sa-l intind)

Sandwich, pin, quilt, border and the quilt was done in the nick of time.
Straturi, ace de siguranta, quiltuit, margine, si quiltul a fost gata la tzanc.

End results:

• a much improved night's sleep
• lots of leftover rancid mold coloured paint
• lots of ugly LDP quilt blocks I don't know what to do with. Any suggestions?
  
• most of my uni folders now have no covers
• I don't want to see another LFDP for a long long time
• painting polka dots on a square of fabric suddenly doesn't seem such a big feat anymore

Rezultate finale:

• un somn imbunatatit
• o gramada de vopsea de culoarea mucegaiului blanos ramasa
• o gramada de blocuri urate cu OD ramase, si cu care nu stiu ce sa fac. Sugestii?
  
• majoritatea dosarelor mele de la faculta nu mai au coperta
• nu vreau sa mai vad nici un omulet dansand pentru foarte foarte multa vreme
• brusc, pictatul de buline pe un patrat de material nu mi se mai pare asa mare lucru