For April’s A Lovely Year of Finishes goal, I was realistic. I knew I would be moving my sewing room this month, and between that and our vacation, I lost over 2 weeks of the month. So I decided that my goal would be to finish the Modern Cross top that I started THREE years ago, and then restarted a few months back. Even though it was a minimal amount of actual sewing, it was an EPIC finish.
Epic.
So epic that I stopped to photograph the final inches of the final seam.
These modern cross blocks look lovely, but I didn’t enjoy the process. I think I may have mentioned that a time or twelve. Too much trimming! And too many blocks- when I decided to make it bed size, I went from 60 blocks to 100. Because I went up to king size, even though our bed is a queen. Two reasons: we’d really like to trade up to a king one day, and, I am a blanket hog- with an oversized quilt, my poor husband stands a much better chance of keeping covered at night… But 100 blocks is a lot- especially when I was trying not to duplicate any fabrics. (I did duplicate a few, but not as many as you might think. Maybe 5?)
I actually finished piecing this on the 13th, but it was so huge that I needed helpers to photograph it, and good weather…which I finally got tonight!
Are you ready for the grand reveal of my 3 year top?
Can you see my helper peeking out in the 2nd photo?
Here’s my other awesome helper…
Rich is 5’9″, and even on a step stool, he couldn’t get this monster all the way up off the ground!
I also gave it a test run on the bed.
Myrtle and I both approve…
And I feel amazing. It’s done. A weight is off my chest. The blocks are no longer sitting on top of my bookcase mocking me.
Of course, now I have to figure out how to quilt it. Or rather, to baste it. This is the biggest thing I have ever made! I have a stash of wonderful blue, purple, and green buttons- one for the center of each cross- but aside from wanting to do that, I have NO idea how to finish this giant thing. Wish me luck?
Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes April Finish post at Sew BitterSweet Designs.
Also linking to:
And Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
Diary of a Madfabriholic 
Whoa. It must feel AMAZING to have this done. And it looks great! I’m with you–I’m such a covers hog! I made a queen for my bed, and it’s been on there a few months, and I’m already rethinking a new quilt because it’s much too short! Good luck with the quilting (and basting!)
Audrey, it does feel amazing!!!
I’m kind of wondering who made up standard quilt sizes, because lots of us seem to run into the too-small problem. Hmmm…
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 6:33 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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wow what a great finish! Just love the pattern and the fabrics. Lots of white space for some special quilting.
If only I had anything even resembling decent FMQ skills… i wish I could pull off special quilting!
Thanks for coming by!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 7:15 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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I much prefer king size quilts on queen beds also. I prefer the longer drape. And my husband claims I take too much of the quilt as it is, how much worse would I be with a smaller quilt, lol! Never mind the cats taking up their own half as well…
Congrats on having it done! And you got cat approval too! (what could be better?). I’ve seen people suggest asking at your LQS if you can borrow their teaching room and use their tables to baste for the space if that’s an idea.
I have an LQS that would probably let me do that… it’s a good idea! Of course, then I’m still terrified of trying to quilt it at home.
🙂
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 7:18 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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I love it! I would probably pay to have it machine quilted with an all over pattern. It really is lovely. I understand your pain though, remind me to show you the queen sized quilt I made with 1/2″ sashing!
Oh, if only i could afford to send it out. that’s not in my budget 😦 Maybe we could find a giant frame and have an old fashioned hand quilting bee…
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 7:29 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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Oh my, are any of us actually good at hand quilting? I haven’t done it in years!
me either… maybe it’s time to find out? -Sam
Only 5 duplicates!! That’s amazing. Very nice work and congrats on such an epic finish!
At one point i had counted the dupe fabrics, but now I’ve managed to forget…
Thank you for visiting!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 7:48 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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I love that design. Very cool. Congrats on finishing up the top and good luck with the rest of it! 🙂
Thank you 🙂 Even though I didn’t love making this design, I really do love the overall impact of it…
Thanks for visiting!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 8:21 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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Its beautiful! I really love the colors! I’m sure you are thrilled to get that off your plate!
I am thrilled to have moved it from my unfinished top plate to my waiting-to-be-quilted plate- but that’s a scary plate 😉
Thank you for coming by!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 8:28 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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It’s brilliant! I so love that pattern and the colours and think you’ve done a marvellous job piecing all that! Are you going to quilt it yourself? How about FMQ in the white and just stitch the outline of the crosses so that they stand out?
You’ve said the three letters that scare me the most: FMQ (shudder). I’m planning to practice and improve my skills this year, but i don’t think I should start on this beast! I love your suggestion, though…
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 8:39 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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looks awesome! now do yourself a favor and send it out for Quilting so you can start to enjoy it. rememebr you still have to put the binding on:)
Oh, if only my sad pathetic budget supported that plan 😦 My only expendable funds have gone into buying bookcases for the sewing room redo…
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 8:57 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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Turned out so awesome! Love the button idea, too. It is a great, wonderful, magnificent feeling to finish something that has been lurking for so long.
It really is the best feeling ever 🙂 I can’t claim the button idea as my own- the quilt on the cover of the book from which I got the pattern did it first. But when I found 3 tubs of buttons- one blue, one green, and one purple- at Tuesday Morning, I knew it was meant to be!
Thanks for visiting!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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I know how it feels to finish what seems like an eternal project… AMAZING!!! Congrats! It looks awesome, and I love the colors.
Thanks for the color compliment 🙂 It seems how good you feel when a project is done is directly related to how long you’ve been procrastinating on it!
Thanks for visiting!
-Sam
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 12:08 PM, Diary of a Madfabriholic wrote:
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That is epic for sure! Looks fab! The size is pretty impressive too 🙂
Thank you, Vera 🙂 It’s literally the largest quilt top I’ve ever made… -Sam
It’s fabulous. One thing you may want to consider is having it basted by a FMQ. It’s much cheaper than having them quilt it. I know that the lady who did my last quilt also offers this service, she’s in Australia, so not sure about American ones…
Ruth, I have done that before. but not in ages. That might be a good compromise this time…I’d like to be using this on the bed before 2015! -Sam
Love it! Love the colors and pattern. Beautiful.
Thank you! They’re all my favorite colors all together 🙂 -Sam
Well the wait was worth it! The quilt top is gorgeous!!!
Thank you- I think it feels much sweeter after the looong wait! -Sam
This is epic. I love it!
Thank you, Amanda 🙂 -Sam
Fabulously epic. Really really fabulous.
Thank you! -Sam
I think it is a great quilt. I sometimes end up in projects that seem like to much fuss. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! I think projects seem more daunting when I’m feeling blue- I’ve been feeling happy lately and that seems to be giving me the boost I need to tackle my abandoned projects…
-Sam
Wow that turned out big and beautiful! Congrats on getting that quilt top assembled. And thanks for linking up to TGIFF!
Thank you for hosting TGIFF 🙂 -Sam
ooooh Sam are you trying to tempt me? it looks great but I know what you mean about upsizing the quantity of blocks to suit a purpose, it always seems like a good idea until you actually have to sew all of them together! It has some great purple in there Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts is having a purple theme this month in her linky party for Sew Cute Tuesday…link it up 🙂
Exactly- it SEEMED like a good idea at the time… perhaps i’d been drinking? 😉 I don’t want to scare anyone away from the pattern- it’s easy enough and really gorgeous- just wasn’t right for me at that point in my sewing life.
I already linked my current WIP to Alyce’s linky- I don’t think I could do 2 links in one week?
-Sam
you may not have loved the process, but the result is absolutely gorgeous! I love your photos with the light shining through it!
Thank you so much for partying at Needle and Thread Thursday!
🙂 Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation