Guess what I'm working on ...

Hand sewing the binding on this quilt! I know it's probably hard to remember, since the last time I posted about it was in June of 2009!

Here's a sneak peek:



I knew this quilt has been a work in progress for a long time, but that's even longer ago than I thought. Last I had posted about it, I had put it aside after realizing that the fabric I bought for the back was not big enough, so a pieced back was going to be needed. I started the back a while ago, but it got lost in the queue again. More recently - I took it with me when I went to the October quilt camp and had my friends help me layer it and pin baste it so I could get the quilting started.

While at camp, I started quilting it, but didn't make much progress. I had originally planned to quilt it in loops going across the front, but since it was so large, wrestling with it was crazy hard. I tore out the stitches I had tried and started again, this time doing loops in individual blocks, changing the direction of the loops between each block. It was easier to do a block at a time, but it was still a challenge.

I got back from January quilt camp yesterday, and after a full day and then some quilting (!!), it's finished! Now I am hand sewing the binding on, then need to cut a million and a half threads from the top, and then to wash it dry it and it will be done. I can't wait!

This is the largest top I've machine quilted yet, and I am really excited to have a quilt that truly is large enough for my bed. I've been using my dog quilt (which has been done for ages, but I'm such a lazy blogger that I never posted a picture. Oy.) which is big enough to keep me warm, but isn't really big enough for my bed. It's so loud fabric- and pattern-wise it doesn't show dirt, which is awesome.

Anyway, I hope to finish this soon and post pictures! This will be my first finished quilt of 2011, and will be my first positive points for our second stashbusting contest. (I accidentally went into the negative on the way to quilt camp, when Natalie's mom Cherry stopped at a fabric shop on the way and found white Purdue fabric that is really hard to find anymore. So I told her to get me a yard and a half, forgetting my fabric diet. Whoops.)