Finally - I got something done.

Some of you will remember the pattern I developed called "Japanese Lanterns."  I made the top and sold some patterns (still available on request!) However, the top got packed away along with the backing I bought for it and it was almost forgotten.
Then something happened.  Joanne Lendaro at Splitting Stitches had a Quilting Stimulus giveaway.  I won half price quilting. Joanne's other blog is called Insanely Cheap Quilting.  Her prices are good already(we are talking $65 for queen size!), so half price was an excellent price!

I sent in the top and backing. I chose to buy the batting from Joanne and save on shipping. I also chose the Hobbs 80/20 batting.  I have to say it worked out well!
Here are a couple of (badly taken) pictures of the quilt and one close up of the quilting.

Quilting Close-up

Oh, what did I get done?   I squared and trimmed the quilt so that it is ready for binding. Now, I just have to decide on the binding fabric. Ha ha.

I did the trimming at a friend's house.  I was planning to use the big open floor, but I watched a video that showed trimming/squaring  on a table top...so I tried it.  It worked great and my back and knees thank me.
My friend looked at the table after I was finished trimming and said "Sure looks like a lot of waste!"

I said, "That isn't waste a lot of it will be used in other projects."  And it will.  This picture also shows the rulers I used for trimming.  I have to say that I love this 16 1/2" square ruler for squaring. It really assisted nicely in getting it squared. I also used my 6 by 24" ruler ( you can see a bit of it in the lower left corner) After getting the corner squared, I used the longer ruler to trim up to the next corner.
I want to try some free motion quilting with the extra Hobbs 80/20 batting and compare it to my usual Warm and Natural/ Warm and White. From the feel of it, I think it will work just as well.