Quilt crisis!

Could I first say welcome to a few new followers!
I had fun moving the completed squares of my quilt around to get a balance of light/dark  and the different patterns.

Of course I could plan my quilts carefully beforehand but I don't work like that; I like them evolving as I sew. However, this stage did involve many different options, a few of which are here. 

Pepper was a great help! and Barney as well! 

 He was fascinated by my sewing machine so I sat him on my knee while I joined the rows together. I started machining and when I got to a pin Barney took it out for me. The final arrangement is below and that's when I had my first crisis! I thought it was too busy and was close to unpicking the whole quilt, so left it for a few days!

Coming back to it, I decided I did like it (thank goodness) so planned the border and bought the cotton wadding and a striped fabric for the backing.

Tacking the 3 layers together is never my favourite job.

Then I starting quilting and did  a lot of wavy lines (about 35!) along the length of the quilt before I had the 2nd crisis....

which resulted in this becoming my favourite tool....

I spent 2 whole evenings unpicking the quilting as I realised it was far too busy and was going to be too stiff for a bed quilt. A lesson learnt; think more carefully about the quilting!!

I decided to echo the large squares with black quilting lines one way and red lines in  the other direction and

to stitch inside the small squares. Nice and simple.

I like the simple effect of the quilting on the stripes.

Barney has a 'baby' doll called Max and I thought I'd make him a little quilt with the same fabrics but a different pattern.

It's fun to make something small - very quick! Both nearly finished.