Pioneer Braid is quilted!

So we've made it through Spring Break around here - took the whole week off to play with my kiddos and get Pioneer Braid quilted. Happy to say, it went great! My folks came for a few days so I could toddle off to the quilt shop guilt-free!

First to decide on setting...

Finally decided that the up and down pattern didn't make me too seasick after all. Left the 3 inch strip border on the center row and went with 2 inch strips between the remaining rows. I like how that turned out. Now my original plan was a solid navy border and going to bed before midnight. Around 5 PM I got this wild hair of an idea...piano keys. Now mind you, I still had the backing to prep and I didn't have ANY pre-cut bricks left. I'd literally used every single one I had won in the auction, plus many of my own scraps. You can see my "audition border" for the piano keys at the top - I only made it 10 bricks long, telling myself that if I didn't like it, I'd go back to the solid navy option and be done with it before midnight. 

I liked it. 

A lot. 

So my parents fed the kids and I grabbed my scrap bin. My mom calculated the number needed, my dad counted them as I went along. So I cut brick after brick...after brick. Started putting the actual border together after the kids were in bed around 9 PM. I'm crazy like that. Remember, I was scheduled to quilt at 10 AM the following day...

Tell me you don't LOVE that. It was completely the right choice. By midnight, all four borders were made. By 1 AM, the backing was made and by 2 AM I'd managed to attach 2 of the four borders when I sat down to contemplate the placement of the two long sides - and fell asleep in my chair. Oops. 

I added the last two borders at 8 AM. My mom pressed and trimmed as I got ready - thank you Mom! 

Made it with time to spare. Truly a team effort!

Ok, I'm convinced that Blogger hates me. I can't figure out how to fix this picture so please excuse the wonky position. This was the last portion of the quilt as I was ready to finish it up, not sure why I forgot to take a picture in the middle, other than I decided to take the plunge and free-hand quilt this bad boy. I practiced a little on one long end that had some spare batting before starting on the quilt. I loosely based my style on a quilting pattern called "Popcorn" and when I say loosely, I mean L O O S E L Y. LOL! 

Here's what it was supposed to look like. 

Designer:Jodi Beamish

Here's what mine ended up looking like - sort of a mixed bag of popcorn-ish bubbles, swirls, and stippling. Not bad overall and my intent was to learn, which I did in spades. 

Quilted it with a medium grey thread, which I think turned out perfectly. It shows up on the lighter blocks but not too loudly and yet shows up on the navy just a very little bit. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I'll bind it in navy and once that and the labeling is done, quilt #2 will be in the bag! 

While my progress on this project has been slower than I want, overall I'm happy to keep moving forward even at a pace that isn't exactly blazing. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize - 12 finished quilts. 

PS: Yeah, some of those brick fabrics are U to the GLY, no doubt! But when it's all done, I figure the ugly fabrics serve their purpose of visual interest and making the moderate fabrics look a lot better. They just make me love the lovely fabrics even more. 

Hours to complete top: Probably about 20, give or take (it was a long time ago)

Hours to make and put on borders: 4

Hours to quilt: 5

Hours to bind: ?