I Couldn't Stop!

So I'm finally done. Wow, does this feel good. There have been so many creative and beautiful quilts posted here and I think that held me back, thinking I couldn't make mine look nearly as creative and individual as you all did. But I am very happy with how mine turned out. I took a break and came back to things and this is the final result.

It finished at approx 30 x 42. I want to hand quilt this one, maybe feathered cables up the black bars, I've never hand quilted feathers before so it would be another first....or I might "big stitch".
Background on this project/design:
My husband passed away in Dec 2007, a few months after we moved to a new town. I spent 2008 with lawyers and bankers and creditors trying to settle his estate (no will). Dec 08 came along and I thought I best take care of myself so I did all the dr check ups and everything was great. I'm thinking, 2009 has got to get better, this has got to settle and I have got to move forward. During this year, I was basically paralyzed with fear. Fear to spend a penny, fear that I was going to loose everything, fear that I would have to leave the U.S. (I was initially denied my green card right after my husband passed), fear that I was not going to be able to get up out of bed and go to work and function. 2009 rolls in and in April I found a lump in my breast. Yes, it was cancer, and yes, I had a mammo in Dec 08, so I spent the next 6 months dealing with that. And the estate did settle, in June 2009.
Anyways, people keep using the word "survivor" and I have never felt comfortable with that word. I was surviving when I couldn't function the year before. With cancer the doctors have a plan and you follow along and hope for the best. But I think the word survivor sounds like you are barely getting by. Thriving is how I like to think I am doing. I'm living, I'm thriving, I'm gardening, I'm quilting, I bought a home and I'm doing great. So this quilt has quite a bit of "recovery" in it, I'll treasure it and I THANK everyone for participating and making this a great project.
May you all be "thriving"
Best,
Sharon