Quilt Process, new awning, train ride

I have been working on this pineapple quilt, now called Hedgehogs in the Daisies.  Named because, I was noticing how "Prickly" it was looking, one of the results of paper piecing.  It began to look like pine cones, but then what would pine cones be doing in Daisies?  So, it became hedgehogs instead.  This project seems to never end!  My blocks are rectangles, I stretched them from squares, and I made the corners different, causing myself all sorts of confusion, eventually solved by drawing colors on the back of each paper.  You might notice, I have continued some of the quilt inside, into the border, so the quilt doesn't just END at the border.  I hope there is some continuity. 

I don't have a photo of the back - oh so cute Hedgehogs!!!!   

The brown triangles (below) are also now extended into the border.  The green/brown triangle is sewn in here, not pressed down (fusible).  It will overlap the double border.   I have used this technique before - this time it is tedious!!! The top and bottom shapes are not the same as the right and left shapes.  I realized that late into the process.  

Efforts to extend the corner triangles into the mitered corner were a failure.  I may revisit that option when the miter is all sewn in - not sure.  Sometimes it's better to stop making more work!

This is not a large quilt.  The little strips are about 3/4 in. finished.  I think the quilt is now about 60 x 70 with the border, maybe less.  

Something new - Our awning over the deck had seen better days.  Gears were seemingly stripped, so, "Call the Man!"  This is a Sunsetter, and was installed by a roofing contractor.  It took weeks, not days to get the finally adjustments made because of unusual rain, downpours, hail, etc.  When you live far from the larger town, contractors don't just run out and finish the job - they come when next they have another job.  

The awning gives us another space when weather is nice.  It's not easy to get a nice photo - perhaps I have to climb the tree!  We always roll it up (manual, not electric) when frequent wind picks up.  

Yesterday, we took a day trip, a train ride on an 1880 train, in Hill City, SD, 3 hours north of our home, through so much open country, then Custer State Park, and more.  There is NO traffic out in the open country!!!  The day was beautiful, scenery lovely, this was a Wine Express, with wines and lunch provided on the train by Prairie Winery.  Lovely!  I was unable to get a photo of the old engine, but what a machine it was, puffing out black smoke as it snaked through rocky spaces, past mountain homes.  We saw many deer and turkey. It was a beautiful fall day, warm and sunny.  Most of the recent snow was gone.