Ok, the quilt is planned for his graduation (which is in December). I am not sure if it will be done then, but... I am almost done with the top and this is the biggest one I have done so far. It is going to be about 90" x 110". I just have on last border to do. I did something crazy. I had all the pieces cut out and all the half square triangle put together and all the rows sewed together and then I decided to change over half of the fabrics. I am SO happy I did it though because I think the new fabrics are working together much better. Now, here is the other part I am thinking of. I really want to make it a reversible quilt and piece together the backing and design my own design on the back. I am using a pattern on the front. There are two cons to this: 1. The back and front may not align great before quilting and the back may be at a slant or something. 2. The quilting will be done with the design of the front in mind. So the quilting may look odd on the back of the quilt. Here are the pros: 1. I really have a cool design forming in my head and I think I can sketch it out on graph paper and make this happen. 2. I may not have to buy any more fabric. I have quite a few large pieces and some smaller pieces of the same fabric. I did buy one fabric that matches and I may buy a yard or so more. But, if I don't do this, I am looking at buying over 8 yards of fabric to do the back. YIKES! p.s. I will get a photo uploaded soon (I hope) so that you guys can see.
here is a photo; I still have to add a 10" border to each side. I am glad my son is tall enough to hold this up.
Most likely by hand. It is so large that doing it on the home machine will be stressful. However, the time is so short that I will have to be very dedicated to getting it done. My son will understand if it is not quite done (I hope).
Wow! My friend is a quilter, and goes to a quilting circle every week, had for years and years -- Hers don't look that nice!!!
Thank you all!! I think he likes it also. It really can't be a total surprise because I work on it with him around. He has now requested matching pillowcases. I will try to do something cool. I won't be able to do the same design or at least I don't want to try that.
Well, I am thinking of just making it a regular quilt versus a reversible quilt. I am getting it bastes somewhere else and they cannot promise that it will be lined up right. So, it looks like I will have to go spend about $100 on the fabric for the backing. I know what type of fabric I want- possibly one that I have on the front. I just hope they have it still in stock and enough of it. There are some good things about it though. The design I started planning out for the back I can use for my nephews quilt. I can even use some of the fabrics I already have.
Honestly, $100 sounds like an awful lot for backing material! How many yards do you need? I wish I lived near you, and then we could get it basted together in one afternoon gossiping about kids! Do you have friends that can help baste? The last time I basted, it was my dss's quilt for his up-coming wedding. A quilt store let me schedule a time to come in for free and use their classroom. I brought both girls and my good friend, and we did the basting.
Well, I need 8 1/4 yards according to the pattern. I could buy fabric at JoAnns, but I don't always like the quality of their fabric. I don't really mind spending that much in the long run. It is just so much at one time. I am also being very picky about the fabrics I use in this quilt. I know it might be possible to use a little less, but that takes a lot of maneuvering. As far as basting goes, I have thought about doing it on the floor here at home. However, I HATE basting, absolutely hate it. I dread it. I put it off for way too long. I could possibly do it at a quilt shop if I asked. The shop I asked charges $35 for larger quilts to baste. That isn't too bad and they will get it done pretty quickly.
That's a lot!!! How big is it? Well, I guess if you cut it in half that would be 128" long. That's a pretty good size quilt! I buy lots of my quilting material at JoAnn's (NEVER flannel!), and as long as you are picky and just get their quilting material to start with, I've never had trouble. Plus you can wait until they have one of those 50% off coupons.