Big Bed Quilt Check In

So I am checking in on the last day of February to share my big bed quilt progress with you. Here is what we have so far:

 Last fall I started to piece my queen size quilt. I had fabric I loved and found a pattern that would really show it off.

I figured out a layout that would work for all the prints in this quilt and photographed it so I could refer back to it as I went, and I drew a map of the placement as well.

And I ended up with this lovely quilt top. At which point I hit a wall and folded it up and put it away. I knew I would eventually return to it, but when?

And then Rachel rescued it. She proposed a Big Bed Quilt Along. So I decided to join her and get this thing done. Since I had the top finished, I needed a back and I really didn't want to piece it, but all the wide backing I had seen was awful.

Rachel to the rescue again. She has a sponsor called Pineapple Quilts that has LOTS of 108 inch backing fabrics and they are great! So I found one I loved that would go well with this top and ordered a 3 yard chunk.

My goal for February was to get the backing and get this beast pin basted and ready to quilt. I finally did that last week and a wee bit ahead of schedule, I found a thread  and began quilting.

    This green cross weave is the backing I selected and it is perfect for this quilt.

 Here is the top all pinned and ready to go. It took about 3 hours to pin the whole thing and there was furniture moving to accommodate it on the living room floor.

And now here are the first bits of quilting. I chose a variegated thread to quilt with, just for fun. I emailed Rachel to ask advice on the quilting motif and we agreed on this one. It took me most of a day to do the first two rows from top to bottom. I broke a needle and I can't believe how much thread it took for just these two passes.

So if I only do two rows each day I work on it, I have ten days of quilting left. Yeesh that sounds awful, but I am hoping it gets better.  It is very heavy as well and my shoulders can only take so much. So, wish me luck. I know I can get it done.

Talk to you soon.