Pretty cool!

I am really liking this quilt - in spite of the problems it has been causing me!

#1 - I was hoping for more and better drawings from the kids. So, change of plans - I decided to free piece the fruits of the spirit

#2 - There are nine 'fruits' and only the first 3 are short words. The last three are faithfulness, gentleness and self-control! Got all the words done and then I needed to frame them with something. Decided on dark solids to tone on tones.

#3 - Since I was using 2" finished squares as a background to put everything together I needed the 'words' to end up as even inch measurements. Lost count of the number of times I forgot to add the seam allowances and had to rip and resew! Finally got that done and then laid it out and realized that

#4 - The fabric I had chosen for the squares with the kid's pictures was just not right and I didn't have the right thing so I had to go shopping. Drove the 10-12 miles south to the first fabric shop and

#5 - They didn't have anything that would work just right so I drove the 10-12 miles back north plus another 10-12 to the next shop. Luckily, she had something that would work. Brought it home and got it prewashed and my daughter helped me get the top together. Decided to use some red fabric I had quite a bit of for some borders and since I had the length cut the strips lengthwise. Started putting the first one one and

#6 - The fabric didn't stretch at all lengthwise so I had to rip not once but twice (I stubbornly tried to make it work!) and had to cut strips crosswise and piece them - it did work that way!

There is good news in all this:

I have the binding cut already!
There is enough of the border fabric to make most of the back.
I was able to use up quite a bit out of my scrap bin (though it just doesn't really look like it).
I only had to buy the neutral for the large squares.
And best of all - The quilt is turning out way cool!