OMG September Plus/minus is finished!

My goal for September was to finish my plus and minus quilt, that should have been finished by the end of August as my response to the Dutch MQG theme challenge for July and August. However, at the end of August it looked like this with just the top right corner quilted:

I'm happy I finished it yesterday, and can post this at the eleventh hour.

 The pluses are improvised blocks joined with filler (background) fabric into four 12" squares and then joined; the minuses I made in the quilting, along with some ghost pluses. My idea was, and still is, plus is visible, grabs the attention while the negative is in the background, less visible, but present nevertheless. The ghost pluses represent a no-man's land, an area of doubt and indecision.

close up showing two ghost pluses and a minus

Now I'd like to ask for some advice. Does anyone know how to remove chalk lines? The photo below shows what's left of my quilting guide-lines in 'Sewline' pink chalk. I have rubbed them with fingers, the eraser on the end of the 'pencil' and a clothes' brush, and still they're there. I don't want to heat or wet them in case that fixes them completely. Any hints or experience with chalk would be most welcome.
 

pink chalk guide-lines still visible after A LOT of rubbing!

Quilting this 24"x24" quilt has been all the sewing I've done this month. The quilting lines are 0.25" apart, and that takes forever! This is the last time that I do straight line quilting with shapes I have to go round, as this was a stop-start exercise from start to finish. But the finish was not the real finish:

burying threads and trimming them took two hours!

Last month I won a $25 voucher for the Fat Quarter Shop and received this package 10 days after ordering.

Thank you, Patty, for pulling my name out of the hat last month and to the Fat Quarter Shop for giving a prize. I chose this bundle because winter is drawing in, and I'm planning on alleviating the pending greyness with some fabric sunshine.


Finally another early morning picture of the plus and minus quilt.

The sun was obliquely to my right and slightly in front and I just couldn't get the exposure right. Of course I was breaking the first rule of photography: "NEVER take a photo into the sun," but rules are made to be broken, aren't they?

 I'm linking up to 

 (A bit late; I missed TGIFF last week)

 To see many more goals achieved click on the buttons above.

Enjoy Autumn (not to forget Spring in the Southern Hemisphere) while you can.

Happy sewing

Marly.

OMG September

My goal for September is to finish quilting this:

My plus/minus mini quilt (± 24x24") for the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild. These pluses were improvised and then put together with filler fabric into the final layout. The minuses are in the quilting.

Only one quarter is quilted, even though the plan was to have it completely finished by the end of last week.

I shall be battling on with it and deciding on the position of minuses as I go. Quilting lines half an inch apart take forever!

I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts:

Click on the button to see more September gaols from around the world.

Happy sewing

Marly.