Thanks for the compliment, Marcia.
I've decided on red binding, I liked the idea of the red then the blue, but I'm a little afraid to try something like that on the quilt without some practice first on something smaller. I haven't done any kind of borders yet.
So, I'll be sure and post some close-ups when it is done. I've made the binding and I have it ready to put on, but it may take me a couple of weeks.
Of course, if I post close-ups you'll be able to see all the imperfections in the blocks. I cut the thing out with scissors, and I learned A LOT about matching corners in the process. I think over all my seams were just too big and it is not without some cut-off pointy parts. I was using an old quilting pamphlet, and looking back on what I have learned (I have lots more books now) the information in the pamphlet was sketchy at best.
I embroidered the info onto some Aida cloth that I had, then washed the embroidery, then incorporated it into one of the blocks.
I used light blue thread for the hand quilting, and a muslin back. I know I should have picked a fabric that would hide the imperfect stitches that happened while I was learning, but I decided that it was sort of a history, and that it was ok to show what exactly happened.
Besides, my quilt shop was out of white quilting thread. :shock: