Winter Oaks Almost Done

I've spent some time since my last post working to finish this quilt.  The first thing I had to do was block it, which I don't often do.  But after finishing the quilting I noticed that the bottom edge was kind of ripply.  Turned out it was about a half inch wider at the bottom.  I'm pretty sure this happened because the background piecing is off grain and could easily have stretched.  In order for it to hang flat, and since I'm planning to submit it to a show, I knew that blocking was necessary.  I followed Vicki Welsh's blocking instructions here, with a few changes.  I didn't want to wash it, since it has some Transfer Artist Paper and tyvec on it that I didn't want to put through the washing machine.  Instead, I took a water bottle and sprayed the back to wet it, just enough to penetrate all the layers.  I put an old bath towel on the floor first, and then the quilt and pinned it through to the padding of the carpet, stretching and squaring it up as I went.  I let it dry for 24 hours before removing the pins.

I've also added the label, made the sleeve, and attached the binding.  I'm in the process of hand stitching the back side of the binding, and then have to add the sleeve.  Looks like I will meet my goals of finishing in time for the show deadline, and completing one of my UFO's in February!