Began in 2009

I have a good friend who made the MOST Beautiful Wedding Quilt I've ever seen... and delivered it to the couple on their 10th Anniversary. I  have always loved this story as it gave me the okay to spend years getting a special quilt top done.  7 years ago, my hubby saw a  colorful pieced stars quilt in a show and he loved it. I wanted to make something like he saw...only MUCH larger ( a California king bedspread.) .  While I never found a pattern... just had the idea of 'it' in my head... I spent the next 3 years gathering fabrics... lots of batiks in a zillion different colors and values.

Then in 2013, I started working on it, creating  star blocks from 6" to 16", ultimately piecing blocks into a colorful field of star blocks.  This has been one of those quilts you work on a while, then put away cause you are sick of it at the moment.  Piecing is largely WORK for me as I'm a much more a painter than piecer.  I think the fact I had no pattern added to this. I'm a decent problem solver, but it gets old fast. This week, while hubby is far away traveling and totally unaware I've been doing this for 7 years, I got the top together. Whew.

Yep... pretty Big 106" wide by 122" long

Loaded on the longarm... no call for custom quilting design...  my goal is a simple overall pattern that doesn't feel so quilted when sleeping under it.  

This is a big pattern called Flamingo Sunset ( by Anne Bright).  It meets my goal. Click on photo for enlarged view.

Finally done but for binding. The quilt lays all the way to the floor on the back side of the longarm frame.  EEK! This is the largest quilt I've put on my longarm... I had 1" of leader left  after adding wider backing and batting.  A quilt this big absolutely requires basting.  I usually completely longarm  baste an entire quilt before adding quilt motifs... I questioned whether I absolutely had to for this one. The answer YES!!!!  When working this large, it's EXTRA easy for the top and back to become misaligned... so basting is helpful insurance!!!! 

Hubby coming home early tomorrow a.m.  After 2 long flights coming from Australia.. He should be wanting a nap.  Clean sheets and a new bed cover await. 

UPDATE:  So... he came home, liked it, and asked me to scratch his back.  For that he seemed excited! I'm laughing! but MEN!