Thank you everyone for your kind words. It really didn't take me 10 years to complete, I was joking about that part, but it did take 10 months. DDuMouchel you are right about being better at applique now than when I started. After trying several different techniques I finally hit upon one that seems to work best for me, and then the work went a little faster, like from sloth speed to turtle speed, lol. The pattern is from the book The Anniversary Sampler Quilt by Donna Lynn Thomas, and she includes all the templates for the applique and 40 different blocks. I used most of her blocks but choice alternates for the ones that didn't strike me. I do love the quilt and since my DH and I celebrated our 30th anniversary just a few weeks before I started this quilt I thought it was a good time to do this one.