wip and some close-ups on my hands at work

i am this close to being done with daughter #5's baby quilt. i missed her birthday by a few days (or maybe a week), but i can taste victory soon. another 4 rows of hand quilting, squaring off, and the binding and i am done! sunday after church i took a seat at the bottom of the stairs so i could be in the middle of things and steadily sewed with many an interruption, of course.

i had daughter #1 take a few shots of me working away at it.

in-out-in-out with the needle, over and over. i can get about 7 stitches on the needle before i pull through. no hoop, no thimble.

my stitching callus is back so my poor fingers don't get so sore anymore. not that it was ever that bad at all. when i was a girl, i had calluses from all my monkey bar gymnastics. now it's sewing.

i still like these prints and am itching to make another version of "out on a limb" with a jelly roll from this oppsa-daisy collection. i had a moment of horror last week when i realized i never bought any yardage for backing and binding to go with the precuts. fortunately, the quilted castle had it in stock still and on sale, too. perfect. now it's tucked away waiting for me to get around to it.

but as i near completion of this quilt, elizabeth hartman's charm squares baby quilt and my charm pack of pom pom de paris is calling me . . .

definitely torn