A b-hive of activity

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I still haven't finished my big birthday quilt.

I appreciate all the B blocks you sent me

for Brenda's Big B Birthday Bee,

but I got stalled on how to put them together.

Here they are partly put together.

So today on Canadian Thanksgiving,

I decided to be thankful for all my quilting friends close by

and in blogland,

and decided to figure out the puzzle.

Here's the layout I envisioned at the beginning of the day. 

I had five large Bs I intended for the back.

As my day progressed, I realized I could get them all on the front.

I unpicked some of the sections, cut down the borders on some blocks

eliminated a purple block I had made,

and squeezed them all in.

 

Except for that red and purple one on top of this photo.

Somehow, that block from my friend Y. got overlooked.

So I unpicked that filler on the top right

and squeezed it in right on the top.

 

Here's the whole thing, now sewn into three long sections.

It measures about 60 by 64.

 

I had thought I would quilt this in sections,

to facilitate free motion quilting

and make it less bulky to quilt.

 

But I only have a large piece of batting on hand

and I'm having difficulty figuring out the backing.

 

So I'm leaving it for today

and hope some of you might venture an opinion.

 

I haven't decided whether or not to make it more of a rectangle

with top and bottom borders.

 

I'm planning for this to be my nap quilt,

so the current size is fine with me.