A hand-quilting project

Remember this project? I started it last year as a summer quilt to be used for beach lounging and midnight star gazing. Since the season is upon us, it must be finished!

At this point, the top is assembled and the layers of the quilt are in place, ready to be hand quilted. An interesting side note, several years ago Abby & I attended a discussion by the quilters of Gee's Bend. One gem that stuck with me is their tradition of re-using old, tattered quilts by sandwiching them between a new top and backing as the batting or fill. I'm doing the same thing here, using an old department store quilt my grandma (Mama) sent me a while ago. It's top finally started to come undone, so I'm using that as my batting. Also, the backing is one side of an old flannel duvet cover that happens to coordinate suitably. See? Recycling and reuse in action.

Anyway, all this is to say that I have chosen one very thick set of layers to quilt by hand. It is slow going, but I've been assured by several expert quilters that this route is easier than machine quilting such a large and unwieldy project. We will see. In the mean time, wish me luck!