The King Size Quilt

I finished this quilt at least a month ago, but it's not the easiest thing to photograph.  Also, there is a lot I need to say about it and takes me a while to gather my thoughts. 

First, this all came about after my grandma passed away in March.  I was living with her and taking care of her, so I suddenly found that I had time to do things...any thing I wanted to.  So, I thought a quilt for our bed would be nice.  And that meant I was going to make a king size quilt...something I've never attempted before.  The sheer size of this quilt was really the challenge.  But first, I need to tell you that this is my own design.  I made a few sketches and then drew the whole thing in Illustrator.  I am a novice...or even less than that when it comes to this program.  But I have been learning all I can about it lately.  It all started when my Industrial Designer brother gave me a quick tutorial on the basic functions of Illustrator.  I've learned a lot since then...but there is so much much more I need to know.  I can't wait to show you what I've been working on next, but it takes time...and I have four kids.  So I'm slowly but steadily working on being a better designer.  I love it!

So after I made my pattern, pieced it all together, and sandwiched it, I decided to free-motion quilt it on my regular sewing machine, as I saw fit.  At first I was just going to use simple lines, but then they became more involved than I'd originally intended.  On top of that, I took a Craftsy course about swirls, pebbles and all kinds of things.  (Here is a link if you are interested.  It's taught by Angela Walters and I think she is a great teacher!) This class just inspired me to be brave.  I know it was hard while I was working on it, because the quilt was massive and sometimes slung over my shoulder, and you could probably barely see me from underneath.  However, I feel pretty happy with the result, so I don't regret it.  I just don't want to do anything this massive in a long time...unless by some miracle I have a long arm machine.  Yes, that would be a miracle.

One thing I want to say before you look at the pictures...don't look at the naked box spring.  It has no bed skirt.  I'm still living at my grandparents.  I'm going to make throw pillows and fix it all up sometime...one thing at a time.  

The only thing I regret about this quilt, is that I am not a photographer, and so the pictures didn't turn out so great.  I had this great idea to take it to Chamber's Bay, in Lakewood, WA.  It's a beautiful place with this cool bridge that goes out on the water.  My idea was to hang it there.  Well, the wind was blowing, and the lighting was bad.  I may as well share our attempts.

One more thing: I decided to use Quilter's Dream Wool batting for this and I LOVED it! I think I will use it more often.  It's a little more fluffy than than the cotton batting I usually use, and shows more texture in the quilting.  It's also very cozy!!!

Thanks for taking the time to look!