On my last visit to see the family Thomas generously shared his cold with me.  I've been laid low for the last 10 days, surrounded by tissues and cough medicine, while the temperature outside reached silly heights of 100 degrees.  I object to having a cold when it's so hot, and summer colds often seem more severe.  I'm through the self-pitying stage, now I'm into the frustrated stage where I just want this to be over with so I can get stuff done at last.

I did tackle one UFO.  My Economy blocks were started in December 2016, and assembled a month later, and they've sat waiting for borders ever since then.  I knew I wanted Flying Geese borders, and I worked on them for a year or so in between other things.

And then it all just sat there waiting.

It took several days to try out various options, ponder which one I like the best, and then actually sew it all together.
I was stuck dithering between two choices of the width of the inner border, swapping things around on the design wall, taking photos and comparing them, agonizing over which one worked best.  Then I realized I was having such a hard time choosing because there was no 'best' option.  Both looked good, and I could choose either one.

Once I came to that conclusion I just picked the one that had appealed to me all along, and had the top finished the next day.  I make life so difficult for myself sometimes.

 It's such a wonderful feeling to finish a long term project, though it was a bit of a surprise to go back through the blog and realize how long it had been languishing. I thought the project was a year old, not TWO years.  But it's finally done, and I can move onto another one of those UFOs that have been waiting patiently.

Another catch-up post is in order. I'm just back from 2 weeks in Brisbane, visiting family. Three visits in one year! My MIL's twin sister died, just before their 89th birthday, and we thought seeing Thomas and Isla would cheer Mum up. It was a hectic time, organising get-togethers and navigating city traffic, but it was well worth it. 

Isla really enjoyed being with the Brisbane and New Zealand family members again, and Thomas was much admired.

We stayed with DS Rhys, in an inner city suburb; his apartment is very secure, with fobs and clickers to operate doors and lifts and the garage.  I managed to deal with all that without losing anything or locking myself out of anything, but it made me long for my uncomplicated life back here.

His apartment is all modern and sleek, which makes a quilt even important, something to soften the edges and provide a bit of home comfort and love. 

I quilted a top for him, and brought it with me, as I thought it was safer than posting it.  He has a quilt I made him when he was 15, and he's loved it to pieces.

The binding is fraying; only the top layer of the double-fold binding, but it still needs to be replaced.

The fabrics are very faded and worn, I'll have to go over it and repair any weak spots.

There are actual holes in the backing, I don't think I even want to know what caused these.....

But I'm so pleased that this quilt has kept my son warm and comforted through the last 15 years, and that whenever he wraps himself up in it, he's reminded that I love him.

I told him that the more he uses the new quilt, the softer and more familiar it will become, and in a little while he'll have his old friend back,  rejuvenated for another 15 or so years.

I call that a quilting success story.