Very early on New Year's day, Bonnie Hunter posted the reveal of her Grand Illusion quilt and the final instructions for cutting and assembling.

After breakfast on Friday morning, I got all my pieces in order so that I could be productive.

By midday on Saturday, I had gotten this far in the assembly process.

By midday on Sunday, I had the top together.  (I sewed a LOT!)

I put it on a queen-sized bed just to get an idea of how it might look after it's quilted and in use.

Saturday night, I made two sets of pillowcases that I can use when I use the quilt.

.......On Tuesday, after looking at the pillowcases with the birds for a while, I decided to add an additional border of the bird fabric to the quilt.  I think it encloses the design and pulls the colors of the quilt together.

On January 10 I was able to spray baste the layers together, and also lightly pin them since the quilt is large and heavy at this point. Free motion quilting will start soon!

January 11 - I decided to quilt it on my Bernina Aurora 440 (a domestic machine) using a rather large hooked feather meander, based on the technique in Sally Terry's book "Hooked on Feathers."  I've just gotten started, but it seems to be working well.  (You can click on the picture to enlarge it, in order to see the feather design.)

January 18 - Last week I got an ad for a fabric from American Quilters Society that I just couldn't resist, so I ended up buying enough for one more set of pillowcases.

To see the progress of other participants, click here.