Orange and Blue in a Dresden Platter

I worked on my Dresden platter today.  First I cut the pieces in 2 inch strips.  That was my first mistake.  I thought I measured correctly, but I should have added another 1/4 inch.  It was pretty touch and go making everything meet, but I was able to get it all put together.

 

After I got it all trimmed, my husband and I auditioned three different center possibilities.  At first, I was sure I was going to like the one in the center first.  Then Tom pulled the fabric on the left, and I liked it better, but it still wasn't what I wanted.  I dug through the scrap basket when Tom saw a tiny piece of the third fabric, and I found one just the right size with the spiral on it.  That is the one I selected.

Now, everything is fused down and ready for the next step.  I am trying to decide whether or not to stitch this down by hand or machine.  I was thinking about adding some decorative embroidery stitches.  At the garage sale, the seller gave me a huge bag of embroidery thread, and I want to get started doing some embroidery again.  Maybe this will be the right project to get started.
I also finished stitching En Vino Veritas together and moved it from the design wall to the quilting rack. I even found backing fabric for it. I want to get it quilted soon, along with the six other quilts waiting on the quilt rack.  All together there is one gift, four charity quilts, and two I want to enter into my guild's show in July.  I better get busy.

Joyful quilting, everyone.