Quilting Has Begun on Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

I have begun the quilting on the Atlantic Beach Path quilt, and am working on the top border.  The 'piano-key' design is done, and now I'm outlining the flowers.  Next, the leaves.

Atlantic Beach Path, Loaded

The Atlantic Beach Path quilt is loaded on my frame.  It's bigger than I thought! -- it's 123" x 124".  I had to add a 10" strip of batting to the king-sized Quilters' Dream wool; fortunately, I had some left over from another quilt.  As for the bottom layer of 80/20 cotton/poly batting, I pieced it together from numerous leftovers.  I should've counted how many pieces I put together; there were a lot.  I used up one giant bag full of batting leftovers.

Teensy is sitting there innocently pretending he's not paying any attention to what I'm doing, and certainly not planning anything I might disagree with, such as clambering into the batting that's hanging onto the floor and making himself comfortable.

The two layers of batting are to make the quilting really show up well.  80/20 goes on the bottom, because it works well as a stabilizer. Wool goes on top, because it has a good deal of loft, and will emphasize the quilting. Wool is 'indiscriminate' -- that is, it will 'poof' the quilting on both front and back. However, with the 80/20 under it, the 'poof' will particularly show on top. 

Backing for Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

This morning we went to Country Traditions in Fremont, Nebraska, and purchased the backing and batting for the Atlantic Beach Path quilt.  The saleslady asked if I had the 40% coupon that had been in their newsletter, but I hadn’t even noticed a coupon.  So... she very quietly told us she would keep the fabric and batting (king-sized Quilters’ Dream wool) behind the counter, and we could scurry over to the public library, pull the newsletter up on my laptop, tablet, or phone, print the coupon, and bring it back to the store.  They require the actual piece of paper, as there’s no bar code on the coupon.

Better believe we were willing to pop right over to the library and pay 50¢ for a coupon printout in order to save $57.16!  The people at Country Traditions are so nice to me.

This afternoon I cut the fabric into the correct lengths, sewed them together, and ironed it.  It's ready to be loaded on my quilting frame.  It took exactly eleven yards of 42"-wide fabric:  132" in length, 126" in width.

Seventh (and Last!) Border, Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

The seventh (and last) border is on the Atlantic Beach Path quilt!  It's ready to be quilted.  This final border is the fabric I used for a good many of the kaleidoscopes.  The rest were cut from the Beach Path panels.  I will attach the 3D hexagons and all the rest of the embellishments (pearls on the tucked borders at the twist, and hexagon-shaped Swarovski crystals in the middle of the 3D hexies) after the quilting is complete.  

The quilt now measures 123" x 124".  (The last photo is the central part of the quilt before I sewed it together.)

I need to buy backing fabric.  I think I have enough cotton batting, if I piece it together; but need wool batting for the top layer.

Borders 5 and 6, Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

Today I cut and attached borders 5 and 6 to the Atlantic Beach Path quilt.  The narrow black flowered border is actually a quarter-inch flange or fold.  One more border to go!

Pleated Border #4, Attached to the Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

Pleating Border #4, Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

Cutting, sewing together, and pleating 129 inches of this 3.5" border took almost 6 hours.  What was once 129" is now less than 60".  I need 420 finished inches.

Borders 2 & 3, Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

Today I put borders 2 and 3 on the Atlantic Beach Path quilt.  The narrower border (3/8") is a flange or fold.  The quilt now measures 103.5" x 104.5".  There are several more borders to go.

First Border Finished, Atlantic Beach Path

I had to buy a little more fabric to finish the first border for the Atlantic Beach Path quilt -- and I had to go all the way to Fremont to get it.  It's 54 miles from our house to Country Traditions.

The border is now complete, and the fabric for the subsequent borders are lined up in the order in which I intend to use them.  I'll start cutting them tomorrow.  With this addition of this border, the quilt measures 101" x 103".  I have 133 hours in the quilt so far.

First Border, Atlantic Beach Path Quilt

I alllllmost got the first border appliquéd onto the Atlantic Beach Path quilt (well, actually, the appliqué is the other way around -- the hexagons are appliquéd onto the border)...... but I didn't have quite enough fabric.  Gotta make a trip to the quilt shop tomorrow!

There are several more borders to go.