I am finishing up this quilt today, which is for a friend whose birthday was two weeks ago.  I SHOULD have made it for her 50th, two years ago, but sometimes gift-giving has a timing all its own.

The green side silk panels are not quilting well at all and I am bummed.  Usually, if fabric is unruly or my piecing not exactly perfect (and it generally isn’t), I can stabilize and correct with handquilting.  Not sure this time.

The good news is that this orange scarf from Japan (above — polyester?), which I stabilized prior to piecing but was still nervous about, is behaving.

I like the way this nubby floral adds a robust contrast to the delicate scarf — but what I have discovered with this piece is that hand quilting bark cloth with regular thread is not worth the time because the stitches disappear into the surface of the fabric.

Here you see what is supposed to be a pool of light from the little house — it is organza stitched over a fussy-cut yellow flower, all on top of a small strip of pieced squares.