That's my CHINA cat that was a-slackin' !

She slept there on my table no matter what I threw on top of her..........she's blessed that she still has all of her tail, the way I was wielding that rotary cutter !

Thank you for the praise on my machine-quilting !  

No, I don't have a long-arm machine.........I told you guys that I was serious about that machine-quilting quilt-along that I was following.......well, it's been a huge blessing to me, giving me pleasure and a sense of instant gratification when it comes to my quilts.   Jodie, I'm using my  old black machine in the cabinet, the Singer Model 15-91.......I learned how to lower her feeddogs, and I'm adapting to her 'run-on'.

This is the first time that I've attempted the feathers on anything other than my notebook paper and a practice piece of quilting.  But I figured that I didn't have too much invested in this little quilt, and since I had already been disappointed in my quilting of the block's center squares, I didn't have alot to lose. 

Well, number one, let me say that you really can't tell what I was trying or NOT TRYING to do in those centers, so they're just fine by me.  And I was blown away by how simple it was to do the feathers.  

I just started out by free-hand quilting a softly waving line all around the quilt in that outer border.  Then I went along one side of it, making the big loops or 'feathers'.  Next, I did the same thing on the opposite side of that center wavy line.  Then I went along 'echoing' about 1/4 inch outside of each set of feathers.....always going all the way around the quilt with each step. 

Before I knew it , I was done, and so tickled !

The holly leaves in the inner sashes were practiced on paper first, and the most difficult part was trying to make the 'holly berries' look good without overlapping lines.   The first ones were kindof rough, but long before I finished the long sashes, I was totally confident in doing them.  I know the berries are oversized compared to real life proportions, but that's just poetic license letting me fill a specific-sized area.

I have just enough of the muslin left to bind the quilt, which I hope to get done tomorrow.
It may be a simple design, but it surely does lift my spirits to walk into the sewing room and see it.