Now, it's a quilt!

Now that the quilt top is completed, I layered it with batting and backing and tacked the three layers together.  Then it was time to stitch the layers together.  I decided simply to follow the outlines of the branches.

Wanna know what it was like to cram this whole creation into the tiny throat area of my Viking Lily?

 It was difficult!

But look at the beauty of the stitched outlines on the back.

Once the quilt stitching was in place, the next step was to finish the edges by folding the front edge over the back and carefully hand-sewing it down.

 So, while I was hand-sewing the edge to finish it, I listened to Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, The American Scholar, on my IPod.  Well, that essay is pretty dense, so I decided I needed to follow along on the printed page as well.  I dug out my old college copy of Emerson (it cost 75 cents), held it open with the coffeepot, and started reading along as I sewed the edge.  Multitasking.
I hope you're impressed.