Floating Block Quilt

I've finished the floating block quilt and I'm pretty happy with how it has worked out!

I asked a couple of other bloggers their thoughts on whether I needed a walking foot to do the straight line quilting.  50% said yes ', 50% said no (n=2).  I didn't have a walking foot, the choice of walking feet on ebay for my machine was overwhelming, and I wanted to start quilting straight away.  So you can guess that I listened to the 50% who said 'no' walking foot required.

My opinion - I think they were right.  The first few lines I did weren't great, but once I refined my method the rest were fine.  I adjusted the presser foot pressure (a bit lighter), stitch length (a bit longer), speed of the needle (a bit slower) and found myself a little box the same height as my machine work space that functioned as a kind of extension to help me guide the quilt sandwich through without it catching. Having a plan to make the lines unevenly spaced saved exact measuring. I measured, drew and sewed a few main lines to act as guides and then worked to the left and right of those using my presser foot and shifting the needle position to create new lines roughly parallel to the main lines.

All the long vertical lines were done first, then the horizontal ones across the pink strip at the bottom.  I decided at the end to also then outline each of the coloured blocks with a single row of stitching, in part to break up the vertical lines & also to just help them stand out a bit more.

And here is the back.

I haven't washed the quilt yet, so I'm interested to see how it will look after washing.  Think it will go on the bed tonight instead though...it sure is getting chilly in the evenings now.

Here are links back to the posts I did on the planning stage and the finished quilt top before I began the quilting process.