Long Time Gone Rogue, at last

I had most of the parts of Long Time Gone finished, and it was time to make some decisions about how to handle the small filler spaces.  I started with the bottom right corner:

The pattern called for a double row of a checkerboard to fill in the bottom, so I made two rows of squares and laid it all out on the bed:

Then I thought, "why not separate those rows and put one above and one below the Flying Geese row?

I really liked the way that looked, and I decided to move the whole section up to the top:

The last big decision to make was choosing the sashing fabric.  I thought a medium value neutral would be a good choice to set off both the light and dark sections.   I cut a few strips and tried them out:

Nope.  Made the whole thing too muddy.  I decided that a light tone-on-tone fabric with a tiny print flower would be a better choice.

With the major decisions done, it was time to start sewing the whole thing together.  The quilt is constructed in 6 large sections which are then sewn together. At last,  after 6 months of work, and over 2,500 pieces, here it is:

 It was the most challenging thing I have ever undertaken, but I enjoyed it immensely, and it was certainly never boring.   I don't think the photo does it justice, quite frankly.

After all the sorting and cutting, my previously organized stash of Civil War Repro fabrics looks like this:

At least I managed to keep the lights and darks in separate piles. 

Of course, I still have to figure out how it will be quilted, and I will add some kind of border,  but for now, I'm enjoying just seeing it all in one piece on the bed in the spare room.