Quilting Therapy

Most of my recent quilt finishes have been by machine, and I've been itching to get back to some hand quilting. I also wanted to try some hand quilting with a wool batt because I've heard so much about how much more smoothly the process goes. Everything I heard is true -- hand quilting with a wool batt is dreamy. This is just what I need to relax me through the winter months while I fantasize about next winter when I will no longer have to get up four mornings a week and head to work.

The quilt is quite large -- 80 x 80. It was made from fabric purchased at a quilt retreat a few years back. The challenge was to make something using a Jacob's Ladder pattern with fabric purchased at the retreat. I wanted something large, but didn't have the patience to make too many Jacob's Ladder blocks. Although you can't see any in this photo, there is one in each row.
When it's all quilted I'll share a better picture.

I didn't have floor space large enough to lay this out for basting, so I cheated and sent it to a local long arm quilter (Ann Made Quilts) and let her baste it for me.

Here's the start of my quilting. I look forward to finding out how long it takes to quilt the whole thing, so this blog entry was needed to record the starting point. I picked my favorite quilting pattern -- the Baptist Fan.