Top is pieced.  I *THINK* I started this in 2012 or 13 - 9 or 10 years ago ?  Yikes.  The pattern is from Quilters Newsletter March 2011, but I think I actually started it a year or two after that when I saw my cousin piecing one.  At the time I wanted to try an interlocking hand pieced pattern sort of like apple core - this appealed to me but at the time I wasn't thinking how many pieces and curves I was looking at.  In hind site I should have made the center star one piece instead of 7.  Lesson learned.  I pieced the border which worked out well, drafting it was interesting.  I was thinking perhaps I would add a bit more to the border, but now I think not.  I may add a flange to the binding instead just to add a small narrow white line around the edge.  I've decided how to quilt it, custom quilting with arcs through the flower pedals and stars.  But I need to starch it a bit more 1st to get  it as flat as & as even as possible - it's very stretchy due to the curves & hand piecing.  There are so many seams, I'm having trouble getting them flat - I've tried twirling at the intersections but there are too many - they bump into each other - last picture.  2nd picture you can see how I pieced the border.  Each "flower" is approx 8" tip to tip.

I had to get out the smelling salts as I was reading about this piece of art. (You know I have a weak heart, Dee.)

Seriously, that is truly a masterpiece of handwork, something that only the young and ambitious could even think of tackling.

You are one determined quiltmaker, that's for sure.

Did your cousin finish hers?

Dee in TX (DBRADFOR3) said:

There are so many seams, I'm having trouble getting them flat

LOL!  Yeah, I've had that problem too.  What worked for me was to spritz the intersection with either water or Magic Sizing (or Best Press or similar) to get the it nice and damp.  Then take a meat mallet and pound the heck out of the intersection!  Use the flat side of the mallet, not the bumpy side!   I found it rather therapeutic.  :-)

That is just a lovely, lovey top, Dee.   Funny thing about complicated designs ... if you just take it one element at a time, it's not so bad (usually!).   The design is very pleasing to look at and upon closer inspection, I'm not sure I would attempt it even now!   So, kudos to you for starting it and eventually completing it!  :-)

That really came out beautiful! Must be a great feeling to have it at the flimsy stage.

ooh...congrats on finishing the piecing! looks marvy!

I like it the way you arranged the colors it is really beautiful a lot of work

thanks Judy.  Yes she did.  Hers is blues & browns - she tends to like civil war like colors - about as different from mine as possible.  She got frustrated and appliqued hers down around the edge.  Her pieces are also larger, I didn't want a large quilt so I shrunk mine by 73% - not a good idea - it made the curves harder to piece.

Thanks Ami.  yes, definitely a great feeling.  I am planning to start quilting it right away.  I want it FINISHED.

thanks Suze & Viola.  It is very dramatic looking.

Oh wow!  That i absolutely stunning!