rainbow rail - a finished top

I burned a bit of midnight oil last night working on the two current projects-stopping at just short of 2 am when I was down to the last seam on the rainbow rail top. This morning I stitched that up and then asked M about a border-the answer being yes, of course it needs a border. sigh. I know she's right, but, that meant more time/work needed on this top. We thought the white with the colored polka dots would make a nice border. I went to the fabric room to pull butterfly flannel fabric I have been saving for quite a while. I pulled it out and looked at it closely. I put it up against the top...yes...those colors work as a border. So, into the washing machine went lengths of flannel, border and backing lengths. While that was going, I worked on the wedding quilt project. Choosing colors for many rings so I could stitch and see some more rings completed. I needed to go back and cut more wow strips as I had done such a good job of cutting squares, I failed to leave enough strips for the hsts! Finally the fabric was out of the dryer and ready for strip cutting for the borders. This stage of the top always seems extra long and often tedious to me. I measured down the middle and cut the long strips to that measurement...instead of doing an average-the end result are a few not so evenly "gathers" along the seam length. Too bad, I am not re-doing them. This will be a snuggle under watch tv sort of quilt-and once it's quilted, it will be just fine. I stitched the other two ends and had M hold the top up for a photo. The design wall is engulfed in wedding rings...and all sorts of loose squares waiting to be stitched. I just need to press the flannel pieces and seam the backing together-then it's off to the longarm quilter. This ended up finishing at 54 inches by 67 inches.
I want bapist fans quilted on it...and though I would love to handquilt this, I want it done sooner rather than later-it's my most recent ufo from last year. I started this in a class taught by Billie Lauder -Beyond the Rail Fence- there is a book out by that name over here.
Nice to have this done-the leader/ender idea really is so helpful. I will pull out another project -I have so many waiting their turn! later on. I am going to focus on getting this wedding quilt top to the hand over to the quilter stage now. I bought the king size batt for it yesterday using a lqs coupon...a nice savings. Dinner is cooking in the crockpot-chicken and yam soup. It's very very warm outside, but, with the a/c cranking, I am quite comfortable..even on the "cold" side.
I just can not think clearly if it's too hot-I need all my brain cells firing for getting these rings right! I promise, next post will feature Alice's birthday family party. I only have 60 to 70 photos to edit first LOL.