I Can Almost See It Finished

It's been another busy weekend in the sewing room. I almost have the borders completed for Laura's quilt. For the corner blocks, I plan to make a smaller  version of the New York Beauty block with the scraps. Soon it will be ready to decide how to quilt it. This morning I was perusing other quilters' blogs and came across a posting where the claim was made to have just "whipped this top together this weekend". Exactly how does one whip a quilt? Am I exceptionally slow, or are they fibbing a little bit? I just want anyone reading here to know that it takes time for me to make things. I neither whip nor throw a top,  nor do I "quilt in a day". Why would I want to hurry through a process that I find so pleasing? With the exception of foundation piecing. I hate that process, but love the results.

Enough with the ranting. It's quite possible that some people like to rush through things and have the skill set to pull it off. Who am I to judge? For me, I like the slower pace when I can breathe through my thoughts, sometimes pour my prayers into the squares, circles and triangles I am piecing together as I think about the person who will be receiving the final project. Currently I'm thinking of hand quilting this by using the thicker pearl cotton thread and more of a folk art stitch, 5-6 stitches per inch, rather than the more traditional, 10-12 stitches per inch. I figured that I can still keep this quilt  functional by keeping my quilting lines 1/2" apart. But I don't know if the looser stitches would hold up as well over time.  Any suggestions from the readers?

 I also had the joy to work on a garden star block for my block swap exchange partner. I enjoy block swaps because it gives me a chance to try out new colors and patterns. I liked these colors so much, I made one for myself. These aren't colors I would normally choose for myself, but by the time I was finished, I felt happy.  These colors together emit (if that is possible) a joyous, simple feeling. I believe I will go back and get a little more of the background fabric from Cloth and Bobbin in Narberth, PA and make something a little bigger.

I'm almost embarrassed to post the pictures here, they're so out of focus. I think it's time to admit my camera doesn't work so well and have my daughter teach me how to use hers. Perhaps my eye exam tomorrow will also help.