update: DONE!

....well the top, at least. 14 months of literal blood, sweat and tears later, I finished my block-of-the-month quilt!
I think it was a bit above my skill level, but I powered through it anyway. I learned a few things along the way: paper piecing, set-in circles and curved piecing, Y-seams.

 I also learned I will never spend this long doing someone else's pattern again! It was frustrating to not work on my own designs for so long, but I'm glad I did this because I improved my sewing skills and I have an amazing, show-worthy piece at the end of it.

I think working in animation for so many years has given me some good training for this type of activity: attention to detail, tolerance for repetitive work, patience for long-term projects, the ability to do as many revisions as necessary to make work turn out right.

This behemoth finished out at 88" square with the pieced borders. I may add another small border to the outside so I can do a wider binding with piping. I still need to piece a back together too.

For the first time, I'm going to send something out to be professionally quilted. After investing this much time and money, I don't want to risk messing it up.....so eventually I will be shopping for a good longarmer. If there's someone you recommend, I'm taking suggestions!

Back when I started this project last January, I pictured myself finishing it a year later and being recovered from cancer, divorce and all the other horrible things happening in my life at the time. And while I have made some progress, unfortunately the quilt is farther along.....I guess you can't set deadlines for some things :(

above photo by Claire Jain

what I've been up to

So I've been working on this insane block-of-the-month quilt since the beginning of the year...it's not my usual style, but before starting  this I realized I had not done anything very impressive over the previous year....mostly just lap and baby quilts that I made as gifts. When I saw this BOM pattern on the Quilt Show website, I was drawn in by the unusual design and brilliant colors. I decided to make it to level up my quilting skills, and have a show-worthy piece. (I did add my own touch by changing the background to black.)
It's all paper-pieced with a lot of fused applique. I have been learning a lot; mostly that any mistake that requires me to redo something will not happen again :)
I'm currently a month behind on it, but considering I was in cancer treatment till May and I had to get ready for the Austin quilt show last month, I would say I'm not doing too bad!

This is all the blocks through August. Finished quilt will be about 88" square.