Thanks for the warm welcome
I'm loving hearing and seeing people's stories and seeing the beautiful quilts. ckcowl's story though: I have no words. What appalling behaviour from the instructor! I can see why that would sap your mojo. I suspect the best motivator for me in that situation would be revenge - as in, I'm going to figure this out to spite the instructor!!!.
I managed to progress further with the handquilting on the tree skirt - I did 3 'snowmen' outlines, and now have 6 out of 8 planned Christmas tree outlines done. I plan on adding some stars in the other cream spaces - not sure what I'll do in the red yet... (will try to attach photo - difficult to show the quilting, even though the guidemarks haven't been washed out yet - I'm happy with the effect in real life though)