quilting up a storm

 After crying this morning in the car after hearing the Supreme Court ruling and listening to Rush Limbaugh's analysis, I decided to take a break and think about something else today. After all, it is my youngest son's birthday today and Mary and I had a blue cake to bake. 

I also wanted to progress onto the next portion of my latest quilting project, Shiloh, a pattern found in Scrap Quilts by Julie Larsen. Here is a photo taken from the book: 

Her very easy method of making pineapple blocks with squares sewn diagonally in the corners instead of triangles made the top go together very quickly. Here is my top finished, the black flannel backing is currently making its way through the dryer. I bought 7 yards of backing, almost double the yardage stated in the directions because flannel shrinks so much. It does make for a much warmer quilt, something that I'm going to appreciate come December. I wish I had made the dark triangles connecting the black squares darker for more contrast, but I guess I can always make another. I haven't decided exactly how to quilt it, but after seeing the dramatic results in heavily free-motion quilting, I think I'm now a convert to the technique.  Speaking of my next project, since I have free time each morning to sew before the children awake, if any sister-in-laws would like a quilt under their tree this year, they better speak up now. (hint, hint)