Farm Girl Vintage Quilt - Putting it all Together

In all my enthusiasm for my nine patch quilt, my Farm Girl Vintage blocks have been sitting in the same box that they came home in after Christmas.

Since I'm hoping to have it done or nearly done by Easter I thought it was time to get to the next step. On Sunday I got them out of the box and organized them. (Basically sorting them by top row, left side, right side, etc.)

On Monday at 10:50 pm I decided I had done all the work I was going to do that night and had the thought that I could sew for 10 minutes before bedtime. Since my sewing machine has been living on my coffee table (where I've been sewing), there was time wasted with set up.

I pulled out the blocks and sewed the first row together. That's as far as I got, but it was something. (And no, I didn't finish in by 11:00. When you start sewing for 10 minutes, it's most likely going to turn into 30.)

Thursday was another evening with
very limited sewing time but I
did manage to get two sets of rows
pinned and ready for sewing when I
had another "quick minute" to sew.

Over the next couple days, I got all the blocks sewn into rows. And then slowly but steadily rows were joined with other rows.

I decided to press the seams open because I couldn't decide how to deal with the excessive bulk where the diagonal "cornerstones" were inserted. I thought it would also make the separate sashing pieces look more convincing as one piece. It's pretty subtle, but I think it makes a difference.

And I think because I came to quilting after garment sewing, I still am used to an open seam. Even though I get why pressing to one side works so well for quilting, deep down I still am bothered by the extra bulk!

Tonight, being Friday night, I gave myself extra sewing time and got all of the rows together and the whole top pressed.

The top right now is about 66" x 75". Adding one more border should make it a generous double bed size, and plenty big to be useful for a queen size.

I had thoughts for a pieced transition from the border to the center of the quilt and now is the time to decide if it's worth it/the quilt needs it/will it work?

I'll let you know....