my beatles quilt top is finally done

I've been working on this quilt top off and on since 2009, when I was still a new quilter.  I had struggled with a couple of quilts that had 1/2 square triangles and biases, etc.  so I chose this pattern so I would only be working with squares and rectangles. The block pattern (from the July 09 Fons & Porter mag) also reminded me of a light box work of art that a classmate had made when I was a freshman at TCU in the late 60s (Charley Varner).   the inspiration was a selection of Beatles fabrics that Cranston offered.  I selected primary colored tie-dyed batiks to go along with the Beatles fabrics. 
Then I got side tracked with family things, and somewhere along the way I got the crazy idea to have some of the squares in the block represent Beatles song titles.  Then began a quest for novelty fabrics to represent song titles, and some of them I made word puzzles (or a "rebus").  There are now about 50 song or album titles represented in the quilt , which the Beatles or a Beatle either composed and/or sang. 
The quilt is at the long arm quilter now, and it will be entered in the Quilt Guild of Dallas quilt show in March. 

best books of 2012

I have 11 best books I read this year (out of 53). No particular order.
1. The Art of Fielding
2. Lamentations of the Father, short stories by Ian Frazier, particularly the title story
3. Game of Thrones
4. The Keeper of Lost Causes (Danish noir mystery)
5. When Will It Get Better, Kate Atkinson.  British mystery
6. Unbroken. biography of WWII survivor . by L. Hillenbrand
7. The City & the City.  dystopic sci fi, China Mieville
8. Bring Up the Bodies. part 2 of the Hilary Mantel Cromwell novels
9. When I Stop Talking You'll KNow I'm Dead.  Jerry Wintraub.  Show business agent autobiography
10. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
11. Emperor of All Maladies.  History & survey of cancers & their treatment.

I also listened on audio CD to William Shatner's "Shatner Rules"  A fun list.  First rule: say yes. 

Patriot star quilt top

The second photo below is the assembled quilt top of patriotic stars that were the result of a Block of the Month program at the Dallas quilt shop, Quilters Connection.  I used different background than the designer recommended, and I changed some of the fabrics and designs.  The twelve star blocks were interesting each month, but the challenge was all the red diamonds and sashing blocks--there are 48!  I have purchased dark blue fabric for the backing, but it is currently hiding among all my other stash in my sewing room.  I think my husband wants this quilt.  It's almost a queen size.