"Songs of Spring," 6-inch blocks by Lori Smith, outer border by me, is hand quilted and bound...just in the nick of time to be my second entry for the Sauder Village Quilt Show next week (Tuesday through Sunday) in Archbold, Ohio, along with "Baltimore Rhapsody" - the big music monster. This tiny baby measures about 36" x 42". I just love appliquing these fun, tiny blocks...the blocks are the perfect size for a baggie, take-along project...once they are glue prepped for applique. I drive the quilts to drop them off on Sunday afternoon...yippee! Best not to peak too soon! The hand quilting is pretty boring...outline quilting of block motifs, diagonal grid through the blocks, piano key motif above the swags, and dense echo quilting in the outer border. Since I am coordinating a huge fundraiser "Pastapalooza" spaghetti dinner for my daughter's high school music program this Friday night, I needed hand quilting therapy last week and weekend. Hand quilting calms me down when I am contemplating a hanging death by hot, al dente pasta noodles... I just love that stop border green wiggly striped fabric. It gives the quilt a little motion. Here are the twelve little blocks. They are such a cute, little size... Here I am, nervously soaking out the blue quilting lines and the glue from the corner outer border motifs. I pre-shrunk my cotton batting before basting the layers together so that I could keep the overall shrinking of the finished quilt to a minimum. Would you believe this is the first time I basically washed a quilt right after finishing it...not even waiting for it to get soiled? I'm thrilled it didn't come apart or get all bunchy... I don't know what I was afraid of...the small size made it an easy chore. In stitches, Teresa Rawson :o)