NYB, She's Done!

Here it is- I am so delighted I am practically doing the "happy dance". This major project has been hanging over my head way too long so the finish is cause for rejoicing.

I love "finished" projects, don't you? But I also enjoy the process! Does that make me task or goal oriented?
No matter, right now I am enjoying the glow of attaining a [long overdue] goal.
I will load up a few pics of the quilt, well more than just a few because I am really celebrating, maybe even good for an adult beverage,LOL.
This is my second NYB quilt, the other is a KS made for son Matthew in 2005 from a planned colorway and it looks very different.

I decided to leave two opposing corners curved, I just liked the artistic appeal, even though I knew that it would require the construction of yards of double fold bias binding.
Each individual block is a mini quilt, a unique arrangement and combination of fabrics and design, no two the same. Almost all of these fabrics came from my "stash" my personal collection of fabrics. In addition I did purchase a couple of the batiks that I used to frame the blocks.

The piecing of the quilt took a good while, can't remember how long, but the entire thing is paper pieced and then of course the papers have to be removed after construction, a tiresome task.
If you look closely you will see that I also coordinated the border fabrics with each of the adjoining block fabrics. That took some planning, I never imagined how I would put all that advanced math to work!
Making up the fabric combos for each block was the most fun! There's a musical theme, African themes, Monet themes, Oriental themes and so on. Thirty different blocks in all. Who would ever have imagined that all of those very different fabrics would work so well together.
Arthritis and the time required are the reasons I seldom hand stitch quilt bindings any more, but this quilt called for that kind of sacrifice.
If you have ever paid to have a quilt finished by hand you will know whereof I speak. Most professionals charge around .28cents/linear inch to attach a binding to the front and hand secure it on the back. When I tell you that the hand work on this quilt binding alone took me more than six hours, after I made the double fold bias binding and attached it to the front of the quilt, you will understand the .28c/inch! The circumference is 345" which translates to $96.60 just for binding this quilt!

That said, most quilters will never get rich [I never knew a rich one anyway] it is simply not feasible to charge for the labor entailed. I can't begin to estimate the total time invested in this one quilt-the machine quilting alone took me several days, you can see that each block is custom quilted according to the theme of the fabrics, and as previously stated I have no clue how mucht time I invested in the piecing.
Our main reward is the joy of the creative process.

I used Superior King Tut variegated gold thread [Kailua] on the top and a gold Bottom Line thread in the bobbin so that the stitching would not distract from the pretty backing fabric.

This is the Japanese themed backing fabric- I was very pleased to find this and on sale, it coordinates both color and theme-wise with the front, the blocks look sort of like fans.
Anyway, I do love this quilt and I may have to keep it- unless of course, someone were to offer me a great deal of money for it lol, almost everything has a price you know!