Beth, I think you've done an excellent job! And, if anyone wants to disagree with me, well, they can just come closer to me so I can stick them with my needle...lol! If anyone would like to join my swap still, there's still plenty of time to get your quilt blocks in to me. The due date is April 2nd, which means there are about 2 weeks left to get them in the mail. Once I get done doing my stuff on the ol' 'puter, I'm going to spend the afternoon sewing and chillaxing. Happy Sunday to Everyone! Peace. -Dan

Very, very pretty! The quilt looks lovely and what a difference painting the ac trim made. I'll be waiting to see what color you choose if you decide to paint. I like the color you have, but think it can be fun to try something new. If you hate it after a few months, you can always go back. At least, that is what I am telling myself as I try to decide what color (geen, grey/blue, toffee, cream, etc.,etc.) to paint our master and guest rooms-lol.

Thanks so much, your praise is very validating. I always know when I like something a lot. It's entirely different to get other folks' feedback, I'm certainly no longer objective AT ALL! Kate, Magothy, sorry I went too fast to stop & say thanks for asking & noticing I've been mostly gone of late. Largely quilting, gardening, working full time & lately rehabbing a big knee injury. Still the Quiltworks go on & I'm taking on greater role at my local Quilt Guild making connections & getting to know the upper echelon of the Group. Magothy, I'm not familiar w/ the Lazy Angle ruler, will have to look it up. Just used a 2 piece template after rotary cutting strips & fussy cut backgrounds to color match like yellow accents around yellow stars, lavender kitties around purple stars, pink piggies around pink stars, etc. Do any of you happen to have any personal connections w/ folks at pattern companies? Am considering trying to offer this pattern commercially, if I can figure out how to go about it. Hi Dan the man, Loved the hands clapping, really made me smile!!!

Kate, This will be such fun! I will do a little research and select a block to start with and yes, we can compare notes. I am by no means an "expert" and I just do it however I think it looks best. I know that I am capable of doing much better work than what I do, but like anything this is really a process that you need to practice and keep at it to get better. I am primarily self-taught (my mother doesn't sew, knit, crochet, or do anything crafty, so I did NOT learn from her!), but I just go with what "feels" right and try to do the best I can. But I would be more than happy to provide whatever instruction I can to help "ease your pain" (to borrow a line from that Kevin Costner movie about the baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield that I cannot recall the name of right now). So, count me in girlfriend! And rivergirl, you can join in, too! The more the merrier! And even if we don't make a bed-size quilt from them, or even if we don't like what we make, we can have a ball laughing about what we HAVE attempted to accomplish! [as an aside: I make cakes, but I am by no means a rolled fondant artist! I am self-taught in this area, too, and that's how I learned: by reading books, watching anything I could get my hands on, and just practice, practice, practice! Some things turn out well, and others don't; there is no harm in the things that don't turn out. I just figure that if I'm great at buttercream and lousy at rolled fondant, then I can stick with buttercream and be very happy because there are lots of people who do rolled fondant, so plenty of work for each of us to handle!] Odessa