Any tips for quilting a monster?

This quilt is roughly 85 * 85 inches big (220 * 220 cm) which is part of the reason why I am quilting it by hand. The other is that I enjoy hand quilting though I haven't really done it in ages.

Because this one is so big and unwhieldy, I am wondering whether anyone has any good tips for me?

Working close to the ground

I spent a lot of my free time this week working very close to the ground in a successful attempt to finish the top of my Night on the Tiles quilt. And it's done:



I will trim the outer white triangles just before binding so tonight, I will piece the backing and tomorrow I will start sandwiching. Good thing hubby doesn't come home for another week;)

Frogging

Somehow, I never really liked the Ripply Shawl and I needed some of the yarn for a different project so I spend an evening and a half frogging it.

Pins, pins and more pins!

I'm preparing for 9 or 10 days of relative peace and quiet, with both hubby and the girls away for 7 or more days ...

... and that means good progress on the HST Neptune, disguised as test-driving my new cordless iron ...


... so that I can move onto the Night on the Tiles.

Auditioning the backing for a Night on the Tiles

I admit that I have been stalling ... again. The main reason is that I wasn't happy with the backing I had planned earlier.



While it is nice in its simplicity and "drama", I don't think it goes at all with the front or the planned quilting. But I didn't know how to remedy the situation ... that is until I realised that I had well over 5 yards of Victorian-esque cream coloured from an online shopping spree about 18 months ago. And as you can see in the top image, it goes well with the rest of the quilt. I don't mind that it is darker than the front. And I am hoping that a simple backing will show off the hand quilting to (relative) perfection.

Now, will I get it done in time for this year's quilt retreat? I'm not too sure about that!

HST Neptune top assembled

Now I need to work on the wadding which will be scrappy. All in all, things are moving along nicely here ...

Stalling .... and assembling

So much for the July deadling ... but at least I am enjoying making progress somewhere!