I need to buy more pins

It took just about every pin I own (the ones that aren't already holding other things together) to get this thing pinned into rows. Since the tin that usually holds my pins and presser feet, not to mention all sorts of other junk that doesn't belong there, was so close to empty, I cleaned out the rest of the threads and lint and it's ready to fill back up as I sew the rows together. No more pins without plastic ends or plastic ends without pins.

I finished the last of the blocks after lunch and if I was a little giddy before, now that it's ready to assemble into a top, I'm absolutely ecstatic. I love this birthday present to myself and I'm thinking that I should do this every year -- pick out a pattern that I want to do that feels a little beyond my comfort zone.

Not that I could tell you what made this one a challenge -- one I got the blocks drafted it went together easily.