Another batch of sashing done, with no real drama. I like that these four-block segments are portable enough that I can fit them in my travel kit for stitching on the go.

But bowling league is done for the season, so I won’t need a portable bit of stitching until the fall. Now I can start to work a little bigger.

I had big plans to work ahead on the skinny sashing strips and even the outer (now with fewer scallops) border, so I wouldn’t have a bunch of boring long strips to stitch on at the end.

Of course, I still had a few blocks left to make, and I couldn’t really stitch on the sashing strips before the big 13×13 block center section was done … or could I?

My thinking was that I could sew the left third of that center section to the right two-thirds, starting at the bottom and stopping before I got to the top of the left third, which wasn’t completed.

Then I could sew the skinny strip on the bottom, and potentially start the skinny strips on the sides as well (bottom part only, of course).

And then, I could even start sewing triangle borders onto the skinny strips, and potentially get started on the outer border too. Sure, there’d be a lot of partially-attached border strips flapping in the breeze, but I’d have less to do after the last block was completed.

Of course, I have done none of this. I mean, I cut out the border strips at retreat, but have made no move to sew any of them on, or even mark the stitching lines on them.

Instead, I’m obsessed with finishing the final block on a very special day. Yes, that’s right, folks, today is the 10-year anniversary of me starting the very first block. And how cool would it be if I could finish the last block today, exactly ten years later?

Turns out, pretty darn cool.

Of course, I’m behind quite a bit on my blogging (see, it’s not just the skinny strips – I’ve been ignoring everything!), and I don’t want to spoil the big reveal of the final block.

So, I’ll just show you a picture of the back, where you can see from the stitches that all the appliqué is completed. Kind of like a proof-of-life photo that the block was really completed today.

Now that the blocks are all done, I can really get rolling on the assembly, finishing the last few bits of sashing and the borders. And maybe catch up on my blogging, too. Stay tuned!