Finally, a Finish for Myself

In hindsight, I'm not really sure what possessed me to think I wanted to make a black & white quilt. It's definitely not my colors, but now that it is all finished, I am pleased. This quilt is part of the Black & White challenge. It sat for the longest time in three large pieces. Then I quilted one of them, and it sat another 3 months. About 3-4 weeks ago, I decided I'd rip out the quilting, sew all 3 together, and requilt it. I mostly hated the backing I'd initially chosen, but the quilting had it's issues as well.
This quilt has 6 pannels that are like this. Here's another look at the blocks in progress, and a peek at the initial plan for the quilt. Each block has four photos printed on fabric of my kids. I know that these are not the best quality, and have since learned of another product that is better to use, but I was not changing anything once it was together.

The quilting was moderately challenging for me because my machine has a TINY throat/neck and it's a real pain to cram it into it in order to quilt the center of the quilt (now we all understand just WHY I really want that long arm...). This quilt is on the order of 52" x 75". It is quilted mostly in red thread (despite the fabrics being largely white) because I wanted the quilting to blend on the backside, which is solid red. I didn't want to have any areas where poorer tension might show if I used a top thread that was white. I am pleased with the red thread decision. It actually looks pretty good.

In the red areas, I free quilted feathers. They are far from perfect, but nice, and better than more stippling. What I really love is how I quilted the black 9-patches around the photos. I consternated over what to do for 2 weeks, and ended up doing more free feathers in the black squares, and nothing on the photos (which unless up close just appear soft gray).

...a peek of the back (which is likely not too visible without double clicking).

It'll keep me warm this winter, and will remind me of my cutie kids forever.