Straight Line Quilting

Hi everyone, I thought you might like me to share one of my last finishes for 2013.  My fist straight line quilted quilt. The idea behind this quilt was to show the versatility of quilts.

 I love just about every period of quilting from English paper piecing, civil war  quilts with their tiny pieces of fabric to pioneer quilts with quilt blocks that tell the story of the settlement of the west and the journey made by so many to depression feed sack quilts, Retro, and our modern takes on them all.  I appreciate that not everyone is the same.  Some people think quilts are old fashioned and dated. ( gasp)

This quilt was simple in its construction and utilised a palette of pistachio green, aqua, robins egg blue and dove grey.  I straight line quilted it with aurifil 50 cotton thread and bound with pistachio and hand stitched onto the back.

What have I learned about straight line quilting?  Tension can be tricky to get right, a walking foot is essential, it is back breaking and hugely time consuming.  Would I do it again? yes in a heartbeat, the texture is so tactile and the effect is simple modern and breathtaking. What do you think?  i would love to hear your thoughts.