I finished the quilt top and then it sat around for a while. Part of that time I was traveling so it’s not like I was ignoring it for no reason.
The math worked out ok, I thought it would be slightly bigger because of the red borders, but I guess I cut enough out of the sashing that the quilt is almost exactly the size that was stated in the pattern. 
Not a great picture, the shadows certainly distract. I just feel that I’ll get better pictures once it’s quilted.
I have been practicing with rulers and my ruler foot – that is not working out all that well. I would like to at least outline the red borders, we’ll see how it goes.
The pool noodle method of basting the quilt is working very well for me. I did this in about an hour, without breaking my back.
Quilting with red thread on a red design makes it hard to see the quilting, that might be a good thing. 
I truly live by Angela Walters creed, Close enough is good enough. I like the idea of echoing around the shapes, no perfection needed here. I must say, since having the machine serviced, the free motion quilting is coming along great, it’s just with the rulers that the thread keeps breaking. Also, intricate quilting gets lost on print fabric, I just can’t help myself.
I echoed the arrows a few times and then quilted pebbles. This is such a pain to do over a large area since I didn’t have a lot of space to fill, it was worth the effort. 
Before quilting…
…and after. So much dimension here, which is why I love dense quilting, it really does make a difference.
It’s hard to see, I am quilting the white background with meandering lines, done with a walking foot. Which means I need to turn the whole thing around since I’d break the machine if I tried to reverse stitch with a walking foot. Ah, the joys of quilting on a domestic machine. Of course, long arm machines have their own limitations.
So one row out of five is done, I have another big exciting project I really want to get started on. I don’t like UFO’s (unfinished objects) so I think I’ll just plow through and finish this one first.
Leah