Hooray!    The center portion of the quilt is now complete.  Now to focus on the border.  This measures 39.5 inches square.  I’m thinking of 10 or 12 inch appliqué borders (blue on cheddar), followed by a narrower solid blue.   What do you think?

The small swirl in the center does what I wanted it to do.  It allows for quilting a feathered circle in the middle… or some such intense quilting.  It also hides the intersection of the four squares.  Note:  I clipped away the cheddar fabric underneath the circular part of the inside of the swirl so that there is not a lump of any kind underneath.

And as always, it is necessary for cat approval.  Stormie held back for a few moments while I took the above pictures, then came flying in from the other end of the house to check things out.  “Hey!  What does the back look like, mom?”

All in all, I am a happy girl.  Love it so far!