Groom's Quilt Pieced

Despite many interruptions, I managed to get the "Groom's Quilt" (aka You're Sleeping on the Couch) pieced.  I opted for different widths on the horizontal and vertical sashing so that the final quilt would end up square. 

The next conundrum is how to quilt it. 

The sashing is 4 & 6 inches wide and the outside border about 9 inches.  That requires some interesting quilting.

I traced one of the blocks with wash-away ink onto a  piece of white sheeting to practice.  I scoured Leah Day's website for ideas for new-to-me fills.  I now have several new favorites including Matrix, Pointy Paisley,  and Mussle Shell. 

My free motion quilting is slowly improving.  I'm finding certain shapes to be pretty comfortable and others still look pretty ragged.  I also find that I start creating new designs when I wander off my planned route and opt not to un-stitch.  My biggest challenge is to keep from stitching too dense of patterns. 

I think I'm going to give one more try to FMQ tonight.  New challenge is to see if I can get the tension adjusted so I can use one color on the top thread and a different one for the bobbin. (A girl can dream, right?)