WOW!

i'm not sure what else to say...i'm rather stunned at the moment! someday, maybe, i'll be willing to tackle something like that...the colors suit my interest, but the thought process behind such a thing really overwelms me.

I'm awestruck as well. Just gorgeous work. I'm sorry to hear about Beasley. Thank you for sharing your beautiful accomplishment.

Wow, that is stunning! Looks like quilt show material to me. Sorry about Beasley-it is so difficult to lose a pet. FYI to other lookers-click on it to get a larger image.

That is a work of art! I am so sorry about your Beasley. I still miss our Sally who we put to sleep on Feb. 2, 2005.

I can see the picture!!! WOW, that is stunning! I love your idea on how to quilt it.

So sorry about Beasley. My cat Cashew passed away Feb 2nd this year. I don't think I'll ever stop missing him. Keep quilting...it helps.

Foxy.

That is a gorgeous quilt top! What an undertaking. Condolences on the loss of your Beasley. We still have on dog but miss the other two that were his companions. They become such an integral part of one's life.

Liz

Gorgeous quilt top. So sorry about Beasley.

Geri

Wow, that is stunning! So sorry about Beasley.I love the variegated thread for the archs and a black metallic for the back ground beautiful!
Red

Susan,
Your work is amazing. The fabulous colors, the piecing... incredible.

Cheryl

I am so sorry Beasley won't get to enjoy this one. It is stunning.

beverly

I'm so sorry to hear about your Beasley. Those critters get down deep in our hearts & stay forever.
But the quilt is gorgeous! Was it hard to make? How long did it take you to make it?
Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Linda

So sorry to hear about your pet.
That quilt is stunning. Even the border makes my head spin! Just wonderful.

A feast for the eyes.....what a beautiful quilt .Your talent is awesome! Pat

Thanks all of you for the nice comments. I am proud of this quilt myself and plan to keep it to snuggle up with during the cold winter months.

Wow! Absolutely incredible. I hope I can attempt something so beautiful someday.

I'm sorry about your baby. I know how much our Yorkie loves to sleep and play on my quilts.

That quilts is wonderful, spectacular. Would you mind sharing the name of the pattern? I have a pattern for a NYB--but the swirls in the middle of yours really add so much to the quilt.

Wow! What a body of work posted at your photo album! Truly inspiring! Expert quilt artist I'd say!

Gwen

So sorry to hear about Beasley. Your quilt is absolutely gorgeous!!!
Carolyn

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost Beasley. Was he a dog or a cat? We have lost a number of best friend pets over the years. They always stay in your heart, don't they. That quilt is fantastic!

Wow that is stunning! Great job. Bet that was a lot of work. Well worth it, I say! So sorry to hear about Beasley.

That is such a gorgeous quilt! I love all your color selections. Was this quilt terribly difficult? (on a scale of 1-10)? I've done paper piecing before, but nothing with this many pieces.

How long did it take you to complete? (Sorry for all the questions, but I ordered the book from Walmart and now need to decide whether to take this quilt to the next step, LOL)

Yeah, I probably should have asked all these questions BEFORE I ordered the book...

Thank you, Kathi

I'm so sorry to hear about Beasley too.
Gosh it's hard to lose our loving friends.

I was so awestruck by your quilt I bought the book.
It all looks pretty intimidating!
So tell us more about the process.

By the way, I got the book off Buy.com & by setting up a google pay screen I got an extra ten off, so the total was
about $11 including the shipping.
Jill

Sorry, I haven't gotten back to this thread. I'm having trouble with pop ups on this sight only. They keep locking up my computer so I tend not to come here as often as I should.

Well, I can tell you the most intimidating part of making this quilt is trying to figure out where to start. LOL

I started piecing this quilt on July 17th and finished the final border on 8/7. Three weeks? I was off on vacation for one of those weeks and put in some intensive sewing hours. LOL

The actual paper piecing of this quilt isn't hard if you have done the process before. What took longest was placement of the fabrics to give a dark to light gradation on each piece. The directions say you need 1200 2 x 6" cut pieces of fabric. There is a lot of waste by cutting all the pieces this size, not all sections require a 2" x 6" piece. But I saved the pieces I cut off with the rotary ruler and put them back in the baggies, and was able to use one piece at least twice. If you don't like wasting fabric, this is not the quilt to make. I don't like to say the word "waste" because to me the end product is well worth it. I do have a bunch of cut up fabric left but I will probably use it for something else.

When I rotary cut all the fabric, I sorted all my available stash in separate colors. I didn't use large prints but only those pieces that suggested a certain color. I had 10 different zip lock bag that I put each color in: True blues, yellows, reds, oranges, pinks, aquas, purple blues, purple reds, true greens, lime greens. I'm lucky that I have a large stash to work with. The large arcs have 20 different fabrics within the same color ranging from dark to light. Still after all that cutting, I did (as did the authors) use the same piece of fabric over and over.

As to piecing the blocks together, you need to be a bit intuitive here. The authors give you very little direction on how to do that. They assume you have had experience with it. There is some general info on piecing curves in the beginning, but none for each individual project. I took my past experenice and marked with a "dot" all the intersections where the curves matched up. I know from past experience, that this helps when matching weird shaped pieces.

I still haven't decided how to machine quilt this beast. There are too many seams to hand quilt. I purchased black metallic thread and have a variegated for the arcs. I'm think that I won't go crazy with a quilting design - there's alot going on with this quilt without that.

I hoped I answered everyone's questions. I understand for those that purchased the book, that the pattern looks intimidating. I sat and stared at it for quite a while before I jumped in. BTW, I don't know if it was a typo or not but the directs say you need 6 1/4 yards of black background. I ended up with a bunch left over, but it could have been the way I cut out the pattern pieces. I printed them off, used 505 spray and slapped them to the backside of the fabric. I used a black cotton Jacquard. It may have been wider than 42" , I never thought to check.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me. I would love to help out anyone who wants to do the quilt.

Regards,
Susan

I think it would be helpful for me to add something about paper piecing the individual arcs.
Each arch is composed of about 17 downward pointing spikes and 17 upward pointing spikes. Here's what I did before actually piecing. First I creased all the sewing lines on the paper pattern first. Just something I do to save time.
Lay out (for examply) 17 blue fabrics for the down spikes, and 17 green fabrics for the up spikes. The downs spikes would have the color blue going from dark to light. And the green would be pieces going just the opposite - sewing lightest to darkest. You want the contrast this gives so all the colors don't blend together.

Sorry this is so long winded. I had a request to explain "the process" more. Hope this helps!

Susan another fantastic quilt...I don't know how you can work so steady at this in just 2 weeks...I have to take mental breaks. haha.

You also provide some excellent instructions and tips to complete the blocks. The instructions always seem to be lacking on the technique side. Thanks again.
Jean

Susan-
Thank you for the detailed explanation - your quilt is just so beautiful! And please be sure to post some pictures after you quilt it!

Kathi