Quilting Day - An Emotional Day

The quilt is coming together better than I expected.  The little "Quilting Bee" started work, though, we were side tracked by a little present one of the ladies gave me.  See, the person my friend quilts with happened to be the "Band Mother" to the Marching Band her daughters were in---one of the daughters being in the same year as my John.  She gave me, from her collection, two photos containing John next to her daughter sitting in the band stand, in uniforms just waiting for something to happen.  I cried happy tears.  My husband so young, so carefree.  I never saw too many pictures of him in his band outfit and i didn't own ANY pictures.  Then another surprise...She brought her daughter's yearbook. Yes, the same graduating class.  I took pictures with my cellphone ALL the pictures that contained John to treasure.  It was the first time I had seen anything from high school.  I wept.  So young...So beautiful in my eyes.

The quilting began and here is the progress:

After pinning the logos and patches in place it is being sewn on for permanent placement.

"Mrs. Pea" (the Band Mom) checking on the pinning.

YEA!!! Almost Finished.  Just needs two things, right??

WRONG! LOL  Apparently during this process my friend purchased photo fabric.  Originally there was going to be a photo of my John in the center of the circle located in the center of the quilt.  Well... Since she did have this fabric one picture wasn't going to be enough. So...

Left side: One picture will contain me, John, and my friend's new puppy (at the time). Another will be a picture of me.  Why me??  I was given a simple answer, "You were a part of his life."  Last picture on the left will be one of the band pictures fitting in the V.  

Right side: A picture of my friend's second dog (the older of the two). John and I love her poodles and i felt they deserved to be on the quilt.

I can't wait for it to be finished.  Yes the extras will add a bit more time to the quilt's completion but I think it'll work.