Procrastinating no more......

Well, I say that tongue in cheek because I know I will procrastinate again, but for this quilt I just figured now was the time.  So I just loaded it onto my Millie.

(I am going to treat this post a bit like a tutorial for a friend)

This quilt has been sitting in the wings for a very long time.  The backing and batting were cut and ready to go, but I guess there was just that fear knowing I wanted to do custom quilting on this one and I felt so unsure.  I might say that this is MY quilt.  Of course my reservations don't make any sense since I have done custom on customer quilts, but with their quilts there is always a time limited so you usually just jump in.  

OK....now is the time.  I should say, too,  that I have quilted this quilt several times in my head, so I probably know what I am going to quilt in each area.....pretty much.  Now to put it down in stitches. 

The first thing I did was do square flowers in my half square triangles.  I have been wanting to try these flowers for some time.  

Once they were done, I advanced the quilt to the next section. This section is mostly stitch in the ditch with some loopy/feathery designs in the red flowers; and some straight line quilting in the background of the large flowers.

Next advance brings me to the baskets.

I am stitching in the ditch around all the features of the baskets and the outside of each block.  Then in the basket itself, I did the "C's" in the colored blocks only.  I am still trying to decide what to do in the larger parts of the background of each basket, but it probably won't be much.  I am putting a feather variation in the basket itself.

In the area outside of the basket, I decided to do a swirly design.

There are 12 basket blocks, so this will take some time.

I have completed  the first of three rows of baskets.  Things are going well.

Here is my final row of baskets.  I finally have this quilting design down pat.  I can outline the basket and do all the "c's" in the colored portion of the basket all in one fell swoop.

  I do this after doing all the stitch in the ditch of the block, the sashing and working on some of the half square triangles as I go.

If you can see, I haven't touched the top border.  It is a large piece (although pieced).  It just isn't done in "blocks".  So, when I get to the end of this quilt, my intention is to take this quilt off the rails, turn it and then reload it.  At that point everything will be stabilized and then I will be able to see the whole border.  I will then take measurements, divide it and treat it as though it were made up of half square triangles and  then quilt it as the other borders.   This is the same as I have done for the last side border.

These pictures show how I divided the border in sections (thank goodness this one worked out to 9" like the bottom border).  I drew  a diagonal line and then did  my square flowers again.

Once I turn the quilt on the long arm, I will do it once again with that plain border.   These faux  blocks will be 7" square.

Then this quilt is done and ready for binding.

Here's the pretty toile' I had in the stash to use for the backing.

I think I have had this binding made since the top was made, but I will have to go on a hunt for it first.  Once found, I plan on sitting and getting this binding on promptly.