A Quilt I Can Finally Show

The end of last year saw me busy, busy in my quilt room working on lots of various projects that couldn't be "shared" at the time.  I'm trying to remember to share them now.  This one is a big project.  It is currently in the box to be mailed to my long-arm quilter as it is KING Sized (one of the biggest quilts I've ever made).  I was working away on it towards the end of my husband's deployment.  I was trying to get it finished before he got home because I had drug my machine downstairs and was piecing while watching tv.  I don't have a tv in my quilt room and when I work up there I listen to audio books or music, but this project was big and once a few blocks were completed, it got fairly repetitive.  So I was merely piecing away.  I had my whole schedule filled so that last week wouldn't drag by.  Then he called.  He got an early flight!  He would be home 3-4 days early!  This was good news, but it meant I had to pack up everything, with maybe 16 blocks remaining.  He got home and took leave for a few weeks, so it took a while to get it back out and finish it.  Then I kept making cutting errors and I didn't have the fabric to allow for cutting errors!  I had planned to make extra blocks, though, but now I didn't have quite as many to choose from.  But enough "chat," here is a picture:

It features "Terrain" by Kate Spain and is the free pattern sheet to accompany the fabric.  Of course, Kate's version of this quilt only contained 16 blocks, if I remember correctly, and this one has 64!  I ordered the fat quarter pack of the entire collection.  It was lots of fun to pair up the fabrics and play with the arrangement.  Here is another view:







This is one of the corners.  This quilt is so huge that it is difficult to photograph the whole thing.  The quilt is for my sister and her new husband.  They got married last summer--it is the second marriage for both of them.  I love this pattern because of the "X" and "O" effect in the block.  I love it for a wedding quilt (XOXO= hugs and kisses).  I also like the title of the fabric:  Terrain, because to me it suggests "new ground."  Anyway, they have saw it before Christmas, so I can share it with you now.  It was easy (it just took a while to make all those blocks.) I think the most difficult part was laying it all out and "tweaking" the arrangement on a barely large enough living room floor.  My plan was to have about 10 extra blocks so when I was trying to get them arranged, I would have plenty of choices. (I didn't want similar colors and patterns next to each other.)  I did have a few extras but it took a while to get the right arrangement.  Luckily, the stairs are there and I could look over the railing upstairs down onto the layout. 

I'm pleased with the way it came out, and it looks so fresh and pretty.  I was a bit concerned that it might be too feminine for my new brother-in-law, but he really likes it, too!  And there is more to show you  next time!

Aloha,
JoAnne