Yes esq,I am so far behind. Did I tell all of you that my sons last cat acan, show absolutely no trace of lymphona . Thanks for all the prayers. Now back to my two BJ.....

Hello, again, ladies. I am one of those quilters who reads every word on this thread and rarely posts,one of those lurkers. I too am behind but not too badly. I have 3 triangles and the 4 kites to do and then can start the adding batting and quilting the blocks like Lacelady did. Almost caught up to the schedule...love to have you guys ahead so we can learn from your experiences. I am a bit worried about some of the details but can see advice is available. Your photos are priceless to us beginners, thanks,everyone.

Going to Joanne's today to get the warm and natural batting for the DJ.

What are you all doing for the backing? And what do you call the extra wide cloth so there are no seams...are you doing this like your background, or something totally different? Just thinking....

that is just the most wonderful news i have heard today (with the exception that my oldest DD is finally going to college)

i am so happy for you jolo. i will continue to pray for you and you family as i have come to think of everyone here as just and extension of mine.

Jolo, that is fantastic news, I am so pleased - you must be very relieved.

Mary, fancy getting on so well, and only lurking and not telling us about it - are you shy? Please show us a pic so we can all admire your efforts.

Jolo - so happy to hear about your son! I didn't realize he was sick, I'm so behind the times. I wish him continued good health and lots of clear cat scans! You must be soooo happy!!

jolo....yippee!! Jumping for joy for you, your family and especially your son!

Mary...Congrats! You are really doing well! I used a moda small all over floral print for my back. It works well with all the fabs I used on the front. Of course, I had to piece it, but thats ok. You can purchase "wide backs" at lots of different places though if you prefer not to piece it.

Esq..no worries...just pick it back up and start plodding along!

I spent the day getting the back all sewn together, re-pressed it and sandwiched that baby. I still have to do some more smoothing...I still don't have the back as smooth as I would like, so I think I'll sew a vertical seam, then undo some pins and smooth it some more. It is really hard to deal with....she weighs a TON! Did you find yours really heavy Lesley??? I feel like I had a workout today!

Oh you guys, your quilts are so amazing looking!!! You make me want to sew all night long to finish my little blocks!! I'm up to 47 now and will do more this evening while watching American Idol.

Patti, JJ is extremely heavy & I'm not using cotton batting - polyester Thermore that is paper thin. I think that it's because there is at least as much fabric in the seams as there is on the front surface, so we're dealing with 2 tops!

i am sort of contemplating doing my 2 janes as a reversable.

advice please.

Patti, yes, I did find it heavy to move around. I bought an 8ft long table just to deal with it. The table isn't very wide (about 30in, I think), but it meant that I could spread all the layers out without them falling off the ends. I used small spring clamps to hold the backing onto the table at one end, put the other layers on and clamped them too, before I pinned.

Then once that first 30in was pinned, everything got unclamped, pulled towards me, reclamped and I pinned the next section. No way was I going to crawl on a floor ever again. (The previous quilt nearly finished me off, so that table was an investment)

I agree about all the seam allowances, that does make the quilt heavier than you would think. As for making two of the back to back Debbie, you would have to really like weight on your bed - plus, have you contemplated how to join them together? Even if you are doing the QAYG thing that I did - would you do that for both 'tops', what would you do to hold the two layers together? I think you would be extremely lucky if you managed to line up those blocks and still get it to lay nicely if you wanted to stitch in the ditch round each block.

I suppose your best bet would be to get a long armer to quilt an all over design on it (them) - is that what you had in mind?