Exciting Progress!

 I've completed my 'flimsy' for the 365 challenge!!

Here it is shown with the second dark border.

 And here it is once I'd added the light top and bottom strips (I had to double each of them to take into account that I wasn't adding any light blocks to the edges of the quilt, to try and get it to match my wall space).

I have to confess that I didn't quite get the block count right the first time, so I thought that I was going to have more blocks left over than I actually did.  Luckily I still had enough to make the top that I wanted!

 It's too big for me to be able to show you the quilt in one shot, so these are the best shots that I have showing each side of the quilt.

 You can see that it's nice and bright - just like I wanted!

You can also see that the scale of the middle medallion is slightly at odds with the rest of the top.

I pondered what action to take to give it more oomph whilst I was basting it over the kitchen table.

I decided to try and address this by adding extra interest with the quilting.

Can you see here (from the back!) that I've completed a block of 'graffiti  quilting'?  The added bonus is that I've quilted the centre of the quilt, so I will have an ever decreasing amount of quilt to squeeze under the arm of the sewing machine for the rest of the quilting!

 I made it easy for myself by quilting the next round with a medium size meander stitch.

I've got a plan of what quilting patterns I want to use on each of the next four borders.  Nothing else quite as time consuming as the graffiti section!

Although I've started the quilting, I haven't fully basted the quilt yet, as I didn't have quite enough wadding - I'm about 8" short at one end!  Although I have other bits of wadding, none of them are the same type as the main piece that I've used, so I need to order some more.

We had a brief trip to Kew Gardens this week - we are lucky to live so close.  It was the final weekend of the Orchid Festival, and whilst I won't bore you with my shots of the flowers, I thought that this orchid model of a peacock was so striking that it should be included.

Hope that you are enjoying some stitching or crafting this week too.