I read the book several times before getting up the nerve to cut. I enjoyed leisurely sewing the hexagons together over the summer. Put the rows together at a quilting retreat in the fall. Then got serious after Christmas and got on with the quilting. This was my first all over free motion (swirls) and it is heavily quilted as I still have not perfected the process of moving it around easily on my sewing machine. I also worried about the backing from JoAnn's shrinking too much. I decided in the midst of a snow storm that my uneven stitches would show too much on a plain color so had to shop local. Overall I am satisfied with it despite a few puckers (or kisses as somebody referred to them).