Another ancient UFO joined the pile of finished tops today. I pieced it 20 years ago, and it's been waiting for borders ever since. It took ages to hand piece, and all the edges were on the bias. That, and 20 years of being unfolded and refolded, made it a very dodgy prospect when it came to measuring for the borders. It will all quilt out. I love this star pattern, and I would make another one, but not by hand.

I'm amazed at how many of my really old UFOs were abandoned at the stage of needing borders. But in those days we had no way of cutting strips for borders accurately. We didn't have wide rulers, or rotary cutters. I can remember buying a gigantic box of cereal that no-one really liked, just so I could cut up the box for templates for my borders. That sounds so old-fogeyish, like 'We had to unravel our socks for sewing thread....' Yeh Grandma. But I still appreciate the fact that I can cut my border strips in minutes, whereas once it was too difficult to contemplate.

It still doesn't excuse the fact that my tops have languished in a box all this time, for the want of a half hour's work. I'm trying to get them all done. This diamond star is probably the third top that I ever worked on, back in 1979 (way back last century.)It was made with solid coloured headcloth, some pallid ditsy prints and unbleached calico. I was not enchanted with it once I started sewing in all those hexagons, and after a while the idea of putting any more work into it made me feel ill. When I departed to go to college in Queensland I left it behind, I never wanted to see it again. On a visit home Mereth proudly showed me the finished top; she thought I would be delighted to see it in one piece at last. And then I felt horribly guilty that she'd put so much effort into finishing it (look at that hand-pieced border!!!) and I still didn't like it. I have some wonderful quilting planned for this, I figure if it's covered in feathered wreaths I might actually grow fond of it. Thank you Mereth!

It's getting cold now, and last night I had two quilts on the bed and I still felt chilly. (I did spend the last 25 years in the tropics, I'm not used to this.) So I jumped up and got my Night & Noon quilt, which has a poly batting. It made all the difference. I love wool, and cotton, but poly holds the heat in so well.

I have about 7 different excuses as to why I now have more than 30 yards of new fabric to find a place for in my workroom. It was the conversion rate, and that sale at Z&S, and, well dadgumit, I just wanted it. Judie Rothermel is my downfall; I just can't resist her fabics. I got the Rocky Mountain III and Cambridge lines as well. If I can't make a nice quilt out of this lot I should give up quilting now.