DEAR JANE, THE TOP IS FINISHED!!!

I'm very happy today!! I finished putting the top together yesterday, June 24, 2017!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!  Thanks for all your encouraging words.  When I first saw some of these quilts, it was at a quilt show in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 8, 2008.  Brenda Papadakis was there and gave a talk about her journey making the book and of course the book was for sale.  I didn't buy it.  I thought about the quilt for a long time and eventually put it on my Christmas list.

I received the book for Christmas on December 25, 2013, from my DS/DIL (after it had been on my Christmas wish list for a few years).  I had decided that if I ever got the book I was going to make it.  I  made the first block on January 22, 2014.  I pretty much made all the blocks in order or at least worked on the rows in order.  Sometimes, I didn't do each block in the row in order.  My plan was to make each of the 169 blocks with a different "main" fabric and not duplicate any of the "main" fabrics in the center square.  I did use background fabrics more than one time, but didn't really keep track of them except to try not to put the same ones next to each other.

I had a similar plan for the border triangles in that I didn't duplicate any of the "main" fabrics among them, but some of those fabrics might have been used in the middle section.  I bought some better quality muslin for the sashing and corner blocks (kites).  I will also use this muslin for the scalloped border around the edges.  That will be the next job - to sew on the muslin borders and mark it for the scallops.  Then, I will machine quilt it.  I plan to get it quilted before September.

Baby robin update:  The babies seem to be getting more feathers and they are being fed quite often.  We can see the adult birds flying into and out of the nest through our living room windows.

Now I can relax a little more!