Circle of Friends Block of the month Quilt by Denise!

This was the very first Block of the Month project for Quilters Crossing. It features Aunt Grace reproduction fabrics put out by Marcus Brothers Fabrics.

Here is the quilt before quilting it:

After Quilting:

This quilt is quite large: Measuring: 82"x82".

Here are some progress shots, I did stitch in the ditch first around everything (which took more than 12 hours). 

 This block before (above) and after the stitch in the ditch (below). What a difference!

 I love when it starts looking all quilty! And I still have lots of free motion work left to do to really jazz up those white sections!

 (Blocks with only stitch in the ditch and ruler work quilting.)

Now for the jazzy stuff, 

after all the stitch in the ditch was completed:

 I filled these baskets with feathers (above) and detailed the pinwheels and square in a squares (below) and added the small diamonds in the thin white border too.

Sorry I went crazy with pictures because I just loved it and it was a very photogenic quilt!

Above, you can see how the quilting in the white background changes the texture so entirely where it is quilted along the right edge of the picture but, not on the left.

 Shot of the back:

Another back shot, I really love the detail, the wool batting really makes the difference here I think in the lovely shape of the "poofs" of quilting. 

 Lovely. This quilt photographs so well, I just kept snapping pictures... Denise did such a great job AND she was the first one done with the top out of the whole group! The pattern required machine piecing and hand applique techniques and all were well executed. I hope I have done her proud in the quilting.

 The center medallion:

I love how the quilt finished. It was a pleasure to work on this. 

It is entered in the Block of the Month category of the Tri County Quilt Guild Show going on March 2 +3 at the Berry Center. 

Best of luck to all entrants!