The finished quilt

Finally, here it is.  My first full-sized quilt (92" square), made for my daughter's 30th birthday, so only four months late!!  I am thrilled to have completed such a big project - I have learned a lot in the process (primarily that things always take longer than you think), and I am really pleased with the result.

The original pattern comes from an old Fabrications quilting magazine, and was designed by Carolyn Forster.  The basic block is a split nine-patch; dark and light fabrics being divided diagonally with black triangles.  In the photos above, I have tried to show the larger pattern formed by joining four split nine-patches together.

The fabrics were all from my stash with the exception of the black/white fabric for the triangles, and the black border fabric.  Many of the fabrics were chosen because they have some connection with my daughter - scraps left over from clothes I made for her when she was little or which evoke a memory or have some significance to her.

As I don't have room or the wherewithal to stretch a full-sized quilt, I decided to go down the 'quilt as you go' route, another first for me.

One skill I wanted to develop on this quilt was machine-quilting.  I've had a couple of workshops with Vendulka at Oliven, who is a fabulously talented quilter and fabric artist who makes machine quilting look effortless, but I have found it a really difficult skill to feel confident about.  I decided that the only way to get better was to simply have a go.  

The 'dark' squares are filled with a meander quilting stitch, and the 'light' crosses have a feather design - hopefully that shows in the photos below.  I used a fabric marker pen to mark the feather design on first - I'm no where near confident enough to try freehand quite yet!  When it came to a design for the border (I used a chalk pencil for marking), I decided to put my new-found skills to the test by quilting on black fabric with a light thread - I used Mettler silk-finish multi in pastel colours - so there was no hiding.  I confess to unpicking a few feathers along the way, but I got better the more I did and I am very pleased with the overall effect on the borders.  The hearts are hand quilted in double thread. 
  

This is by far the biggest project I have tackled, amazing really when I say I have been quilting on and off for about 30 years.  Up to now I've kept the projects small and manageable, and quick to complete.  But there is something so satisfying in undertaking and finishing something of this size.  I may not be quite ready to do another quilt this size just at the moment, but when the time does come I shan't be daunted.  I have proved to myself that I'm capable.