Problem Child Quilt on the Frame -- Green King-Sized Quilt #2

Here's the quilt I posted about binding yesterday.  I quilted it this week during my longarm marathon session.  It's Green King-Sized Quilt #2. (Quilt top made by someone in our guild left in the to-be quilted bin).  I had no idea how I would get it to lay flat and quilt it.  The guild president gave this to me and said someday finish it and donate it.

I recently read on someone's blog that her longarm quilter had two main rules:

1.  Quilt must lay flat

2.  Quilt back must be big enough

Well this quilt had both problems.  I knew about the part about it not laying flat.  That's most likey why this quilt landed in the quilt guild's to-be-quilted and donated bin.

Here's the back that I made during the snow day in early December:

It has novelty quilt panels and some holiday themed novelty neutrals all around to make it big enough.  I figured it was big enough as it was on my design floor because it looks like it is covering the quilt top.  I loaded it onto the longarm and it was just a tad too short on the sides.  (The quilt top is square.) I removed it from the frame and found a piece of side cut from trimming another project and sewed it to the side--so I thought.  

I loaded the quilt again.  UGH!!!  I sewed the strip to the bottom instead of the side!  Time to unload the quilt from the frame, rip off the "bottom" strip and attach it to the correct side.  Finally, the quilt is loaded and I can stitch with about 2.5" of play on each side.

Now we can see that this quilt is breaking rule #1.  It is not laying flat.  I'll have to work in the play as I go.  Ugh.  Look at these blocks:

This quilt will take a little longer to quilt.  These blocks will need a little TLC as I get to each one.  I end up going slow and placing my hand on the fabric to manipulate it as I stitch.  It's all throughout the quilt.  It will all work out, hopefully.  I can see why it landed in the donation box.  It will make a nice compassion quilt.

I finished quilting this on Saturday.  It's was able to work through a lot of the fullness.  There's a pucker or two here and there, but it will still make a beautiful, large, quilt for someone.  It's only fitting that the quilted ended with only a half of an inch of batting in the margin on the bottom.  Whew, that was close!  I thought I took a pic of it, but apparently not.  I may have just been happy that it was quilted.  This will be a nice quilt to sit under and hand stitch the binding during the winter months.  Yeah!  

What a great longarming quilt marathon I had during Christmas break!  I'm certainly proud of what I accomplished.  I'm thankful I had good health during that time.  I even noticed a great amount of improvment in my bad knee to the point of almost no pain at all unless I'm on very uneven surfaces such as a hill or ditch.