Judith, if you think quilting supplies are expensive where you are you should try it here. €16 per metre of fabric (that's about $19 dollars) and if you want to get wide back fabric then it's €26! Batting can be anything from €12-20 per metre as well. And forget about the notions they are just off the wall. And because most of the quilt 'shops' are run in women's homes we have to book an appointment to go and buy - once we have made enough money to be able to. We used to be able to buy things from America and even with the postage it was still economical but the USPS rates have gone through the roof now too. I was going to get something from AQS recently, just a small thing and the postage offered was $77.00!

Rosemary,
I love your idea about 2 quilts for the price of 1. Great idea.

I balk at spending a fortune on backing and batting.
Now that I am retired, money to spend on quilting is harder to come by - especially since the price of cotton started going up a few years ago. I thought the market price of cotton went up due to a temporary bad growing year for cotton, but it seems to me that it went up rather suddenly and stayed up. I may be wrong, but it appears to me that the price of fabric has risen at a greater rate than the cost of living. Making a quilt has become much more expensive.

And batting.. After I use up the batting I have now, I am thinking about buying some fleece and figuring out how to make my own wool batting. Don't know why not. I used to spin and I still have a drum carder. People have done it for centuries.

Judith

Rosemary, I understand! My 2015 resolution quilts are all going to be pieced to use up my scraps except the TQS 2014 BOM.

Cathy, I cannot remember the size of the front, but I know that the back is way oversize, it's just that that was the easiest size to make it, each quarter had one strip of each fq in it, with one contribution from me too. I then made each quarter separately using Bonnie Hunter's scrappy trip around the world technique, with a little bit of organisation as to where the colours were to lay.

Beverley - sure saved going out and buying some backing for the quilt

Kathy love your daughters and your quilt !!

Rosemary wow that's a beautiful quilt

Rosemary, when you get the top out to sandwich, please take another picture for us. Wow, it is like two quilts for the price of one. Great idea. Of course, you may have to buy a bigger bed. Was the top close to 108 inches, or will you need to trim back the backing? What a shame. Maybe you can make some shams for the pillows with what is extra.

Wow, Rosemary! What a great way to use the special fabrics!

The back was created using some of every fq that I was sent for running the exchange. Unfortunately I cannot find the photos I took of the front - I've got a nasty feeling that they got lost when the old computer went fizzt last year. Looking forward to getting it put together. And yes I am into double sided quilts, I get twice the piecing fun per blanket/wadding, and since they are for the guest beds it makes sense (to me at least).

Wow, what a wonderful backing, Rosemary! I like to piece my backings to make something fun, but I don't have the patience to do a whole new quilt!

Rosemary, that's a fantastic backing.

Rosemary, That backing is amazing!

That's an amazing back, Rosemary--really, it will be a two-sided quilt, won't it? Could you post a photo of the front--somehow, I don't recall how you did that part... was it the Edyta Sitar spools design or did you do your own thing with it?

I still can't get over that backing...

Beautiful Rosemary you need another 2 backs

Renata, Nancy was right. The little pieces of paper were to keep the blocks in the right order. I couldn't have done without them.
Rosemary your quilt is beautiful. I think I should put that as a project to finish this year. All of my strips are still in a box. I filled out the All People Quilt UFO monthly challenge, but I have way too many UFO's. I would need to do 3 or 4 a month and I still would probably not get caught up. Oh well, Eleanor Burns just said she has 2 houses full of UFO's, so I don't feel too bad. I will finish what has to be done and just enjoy working on everything else when I get to it.