I don't think of myself as banal and insipid but I can't seem to force myself out of my banal and insipid quilting. Oh well, old dog/new tricks and all that. I finished the current project today. 

 This is our first peony of this spring. We brought this plant with us from Utah and it has acclimated very well. Each bud is about the size of a tennis ball so you can imagine how big this is open like this. If I remember correctly, which I probably don't, this one is called Bowl of Beauty and is a semi-double. Since we just had a new garden bed added to the yard we now have about two dozen peonies but the first one always stands out. We also have our first very small green tomato on a plant we started indoors back in February and planted out a little while ago. 

 Besides the transient and temporary brain fog caused by the vaccine shot for a few days, this top made several demands on me. While the background fabric is not the normal type, it is still quite neutral. However, it had all those nice rows of double dots against the pale grey and they were very straight, demanding very accurate sewing. That isn't a huge problem until you start adding borders since setting separate elements apart with a different fabric can prevent any bad matches. But the mitered corners did make a difference. 

On top of that, not all of the choices I made ended up in the finished top. I changed the color of the inner strip several times. I also changed it from a scalloped edge (the first iteration was wider) to a narrow straight strip. Then when I tried to add some pieced borders they didn't suit my fancy at all. So I sewed and I picked out stitches several times, ultimately coming up with this.

 Comparing this now layered, marked, ready to be quilted top to what it was, I already know that this nice black floral is the right choice even if not all of the colors of the flowers are repeated. I am considering scalloping that outside edge but that decision doesn't need to  happen until the whole top is quilted since that marking and cutting happens at the end. My only reservation has to do with using this as a wall hanging because scalloped edges can be a little floppy.

 My last student finally committed to Harvard. He visited the east coast this past weekend specifically to check out Brown and Harvard. Although Brown gave him the grandiose offer of being admitted to undergraduate level as well as two different graduate level degrees, he thought Harvard would end up being a better fit. At this point it is hard to say for sure but certainly he has scored a major coup in even getting in given the competition. Best wishes to him and to all entering freshmen. They have the freshness of youth and optimism in their favor.