Borders and a finishing milestone...

Finally!  I've made some progress on my "Little Treasures" project.  I have added a 1-inch finished sawtooth border around the center medallion block (the block finishes 16-inches square and 18-inches square with the addition of the little border).

It took 68 of the little suckers for this one border, but it was made much simpler by taking all the ingredients as my "leaders and enders" project during the retreat.  For those not familiar with Bonnie Hunter's "leaders/enders" concept...she uses something like this, say two triangles, as the fluff that she adds to her chain piecing "chain" right before being ready to stop chain stitching.  That saves thread and makes it easier to start chain-piecing again without the machine trying to "eat" the fabric bits.  That is how I made all my half-square triangles, which I later pressed and trimmed down to size before assembling strips of the little beasts.

I love how this border looks around my original design for the medallion block!  Seeing this step done has FINALLY helped me decide on the body of this quilt!  Yahoo!  This required me to design/draw an additional thirteen 6-inch applique blocks.  I will share more later about this exciting new development.

I have also been working on the two inner borders for our anniversary quilt, "Contentment."

Pieces and parts, all woven into a border...getting the final soaking to remove the glue.

The inner border is now applied and the outer border pieces are all appliqued...four border strips and four cornerstones...waiting me to attach them to the body of the quilt.  My husband says they remind him of the "pop beads" our daughter had as a toddler.

 And I have now finished ALL of the FORTY applique blocks for "Afternoon Delight."  Here are the last six, all hand-stitched, soaked, and trimmed. 

I have enjoyed stitching these blocks so much...I am almost sorry to be done.  But mostly, now I have no excuses for not facing and finishing the last 56 Double Nine Patch blocks needed for the setting.

Three projects that excite me and progress (finally!) on all three.  I think my retreat motivated me to finally make some decisions concerning how to finish "Contentment" and "Little Treasures," and Sue Garman's "Afternoon Delight" has just been along for the ride as an excellent source of fabric therapy when I needed it the most.

I am so glad to see my blog list back, although I need to spend some time on it.  There are a few blogs missing and a few more that I have found.  I will never understand Blogger, but I have decided that it is something like a living, breathing cyber beast, sent to torture me when I least need the frustration!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)