A very large UFO project

After seeing how quickly my mother crocheted me a granny square afghan, which is in the mail now on its way to me, I decided the quilt for our bed had to move from UFO to finished status. I started quilting this by machine yesterday and have it almost at the halfway point now.

I do not like quilting on the machine but this was the only choice seeing how large (2,70m square) and very heavy this quilt is. If I did this with hand quilting, I think it would fall apart within six months of use. I kept putting off the quilting even though it laid batting and all ready to start for about half a year. I was certain it would not work or look okay and I would quilt a few lines and rip it all back out again. I have been pleasantly surprised with how nicely it is quilting on the machine. No, it does not have that special quality that I think only hand quilting can give but I am overall happy with it. I planned from the start that this quilt would have a simple and vintage look to it. I wanted to quilt little x's in each square when I started the patchwork. If you click on the photo, you can see it in more detail.

Some time ago, I was searching on eBay for a quilt for our bed. I found one which was $240 plus the shipping to Europe. While really looking closely at it, I thought to myself that I had many fabrics in my stash that looked similar to that quilt. I got out all that I had and added some more that I felt enhanced the floral fabrics with this being the result. I did not spend a penny as it was all fabric I had and was pleased with myself. But then comes the time for quilting and I have my moments that I think, why did I not just buy a quilt.

Seeing how it is coming along is encouraging and I know it will be worth the struggle to fit this large quilt under my sewing machine in the end. I hope to be able to show you the finished quilt on my bed in the next week.