Fully and Finally Finished!

It seemed as though it was taking Forever but Finally I have Fully Finished the (blue and white) Log Cabin Quilt and it's in the washer as I type.  I'm so relieved to have it done! I think it will look better when the markings are washed out--I used Frixion pens and chalk markers so there shouldn't be any problems with them not washing out.

Here's the 98" square king sized quilt laid out on a queen sized bed:

I'd never seen that setting for a log cabin quilt and I like how it looks, now that it's all put together.

This is a close up of one of the millions of feathers I quilted!  Actually, it was only 2 in each of the 64 blocks, so not quite a million.

I like the design I freehanded in the pink centers of the blocks.  As I was hand stitching the binding yesterday, I noticed 4 blocks where the thread tension was so bad that I went back today and redid them.  

Of course, a pic of the backing--a pretty little blue and white floral--and the blue, gray and pink batik binding.  

I'd asked my DIL what color she wanted her quilt and she said pink was her favorite color, but Dan, my son, said he wouldn't have a pink quilt.  So we settled on her second favorite color, blue which satisfied him. But I had to include some pink in the quilt and used it in the centers of the blocks instead of the more traditional red. I hope they both like it.  

I also used lots of variety fabrics in this quilt--lobsters. sailboats, blueberries, newspaper personal ads (remember them from before Match.com?), Frosty the Snowman, Thomas the train engine, Santa's reindeers' names, footprints in the sand, and lots more. I think the boys, aged 7 and 10, will have fun finding these things in the quilt.

Now it's in the machine for a hot water wash, along with a color catcher just in case, and with luck, the thread tension problems will disappear in the shrinkage of the cotton fibers.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I've been really laid low by this head cold I think I mentioned a couple of days ago, and finally today it seems to be loosening it's grip on me.  I've only gone through 1 box of Kleenex instead of the two I blew through yesterday! And I seem to have a bit more energy than yesterday.  

But as dismal as I felt yesterday, I did keep my appointment with the hand surgeon who took one look, reviewed my chart for the other hand problems I've seen him for, and pronounced that surgery was in order.  Nuts!  I'd hoped I could have avoided that but I don't want to live with pain and in a wrist brace the rest of my life either. If nothing changes while I'm in Alabama next month, I'll get the surgery scheduled when I get back home.  

Now that the HUGE quilt is done, I can turn my brain to figuring out what to bring with me on this vacation. I usually bring a couple of new projects to work on, but then they don't get finished and they sit around, bothering me, the rest of the year.  So, my plan is to bring last year's projects along and get them finished up.  Also to find a couple of other UFOs I can bring with and get them further along if not finished.  If I only work on UFOs while I'm in Alabama, I should be in a pretty good position when I get back.  I think I'll bring all my Christmas fabrics along as well. If I get 3 or 4 projects pieced up while there, it'll be simple to finished the quilting when I get back home, and then I'll have a head start on the holiday items for the Etsy store.  

And, if I run out of things to sew, I can always read a book while relaxing on the beach. Can you tell I'm looking forward to this vacation?

I don't know how much posting I'll be doing since I'll only have my crappy old laptop with me, and I'm not sure how safe it is to use that anymore.  So, if you don't hear much from me it's either because the laptop is kaput or because I'm on the beach.