Happy New Year! Can you believe it's 2009?

I managed to finish one last UFO in 2008 - it was a great learning project! Yes, it had that many challenges!

A group of Lincoln quilters went to Paducah in 2006 (?) or 2005! J and I were at the vendor's mall by the pool and a vendor that sold lapel pins had a darling quilt on their wall - no pattern for it, but it was a simple square in a square; aka happy block; or a 2 round log cabin with same color rounds ... so we noted the particulars - how big the blocks were, how many ... and planned to make it. Next step was the yummy hand-dyed fabrics sold in a package. Expensive, but somehow we thought we could get two projects out of the package. Let me just say - math is not my strength!!! LOL! We couldn't - in fact - I barely got the one out of it! Sorry, J!

I don't usually work with solids and here I was running out of them but I wanted it bigger. What to do? I saw a few quilts with what I call 'disappearing' borders. Where the border blends with the center - no distinct line. Okay, I did have small squares left - I liked the way a batik played against the solids ... so I worked on the border. By the way - let me know if you think this works ... I already had a big vote of "NO" from DH!

AND the final new thing I tried on this quilt was - I quilted without a drawn line in the border. Yes, I realize that I may be a 'Type A' when it comes to this kind-of thing! LOL! But I'd NEVER wandered from point to point before! And there's a good 3" line there! Okay, I'm a convert - the world did not end and the lines look pretty straight! I'll do that again - a great time-saver!

Oh, I'm really proud of finishing this today ... I also did wash, cleaned bathrooms, made turkey salad, packed us, drove to Portland, made tacos for dinner, gave Mr M 2 bottles, and played with Miss P! A jam-packed ending to a year of changes! Goodnight and happy 2009!