Love those long weekends

That extra day just makes it so nice to spend time working out kinks on projects. I finished sewing down all those pesky circles on this quilt I started at the guild Princeton retreat last May. Then I had time to piece together the back with some more batiks, and get it pin basted. My inspiration for the quilt was a pattern by Ann Sandrin called Happy New Year that was from the Quilter's Home website back when Mark Lipinski was its organizer/editor. Mine has fewer bubbles, but I liked it this way. I wasn't really going for the New Year theme. I have more columns, but suspect they are narrower than the original. In fact, once I got to piecing, I sort of kept the picture in sight to inspire, but let the strip piecing just steer me to the final sizes. I found all the batiks as jelly rolls at Walmart, and decided to add some black and run with it. It's really long, about 100" and about 75" wide.

So now I have to decide how to quilt it. Contrasting thread (black) or one that will fade away? Feathers down each column, or meander, or stitch in the ditch? I don't want the quilting to jump out, so I'm thinking a neutral color, but I don't think I can face all the ditches with any level of patience.