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Friday, December 4, 2020

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? My Christmas Present to Me!

 

Hi, all!

Friday again - and not only Friday, but three-weeks-until-Christmas Friday!!  Oh my!  I'm sure most of you are working on things you can't share, but I hope you can join in the fun and whoop it up a little bit - so let's get started!

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I decided this year that I was finally going to use the three jelly rolls of Kate Spain's Solstice that I had been hoarding saving for the perfect quilt - and because it's Christmas fabric, I was compelled to finish it in time for this Christmas!  I wanted a king size quilt for our new bed, and not just a king size, but a huge one, with plenty of "drop" on three sides so that rolling over wouldn't leave anyone short of covers.

Because this quilt was going to be so big, it wouldn't fit on my quilt frame in one piece, so I quilted it in two long sections.  My original plan was to use a layer of wool batting and a layer of cotton batting, but when I started quilting it, I found it to be too puffy, so I took out the cotton batting.  The wool batt gave just the right amount of loft!

Here's the first half fresh off the frame!  Then, second verse, same as the first, I quilted the other half.

Then came the fun and adventurous part - joining the two halves!  I found a great tutorial that covered exactly what I wanted to do, and if you are interested in doing the same, I highly recommend that you check it out.  She did an excellent job of explaining how and I don't think I can add much here.  So - I trimmed one side through all the layers, then pinned it to the pieced top on the other side, folding back the batting and backing.

Once the two pieces were joined, I pressed the seam allowance towards the pieced side, trimmed the batting to meet the edge I just pressed over, and trimmed the backing to 1" beyond the seam allowance.  Then I folded the seam allowance on the backing under to just cover the seam stitching and pressed it down.  And this is the only thing I did differently than the tutorial - I hand stitched the seam down rather than stitching in the ditch as directed.  I did that because the wool batting has so much loft, I was afraid I would end up with a very visible line down my quilt that was quilted everywhere else with swirls.  Oh, and one last thing I did was lay the quilt across the rollers of my quilt frame, pin it to the leaders just to hold it in place, and quilt across the space that remained unquilted above the joining of the two halves.  I had to shift it down a little bit at each end to get all the way to the edges of the quilt, but it's all good - it worked!

Then I located in my stash enough of this red stripe to make binding!  Is there anything prettier than red stripe binding?  And, as a friend on Instagram said, shouldn't all Christmas quilts have red stripe binding?

Every journey begins with a single stitch, right?  More than four hundred inches around this quilt, so it took a while, but so worth it...

...because, isn't that the prettiest thing?  And even more so because it's all finished!



And here it is, in all its glory!  Notice the drop - plenty of roll-over room with this quilt.  And it's even prettier in person.  The camera doesn't do justice to the beautiful colors in this fabric line.  Of course, that could partly be that I didn't finish it until after the sun set, so I may be able to get a better picture by daylight.  We shall see!  I also have a long rectangular piece of the patchwork to make a bolster pillow, which hopefully will happen in the next few days.  It would be a shame to have to wait until next Christmas to use it!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah


28 comments:

  1. Stunningly amazing, and a super size. SWe have super king duvets on our queen bed and they are just big enough, any smaller and they get pulled off if one of us moves. Love the idea of a bolster too, this will give a very SWISH look to your room, and all done for Santa to admire.

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  2. Beautiful and cozy!

    Michelle
    https://mybijoulifeonline.com

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  3. Great job! I love the colors - so festive! I often quilt on my DSM in sections. I use batting tape to hold the batting sections together, hand stitch the underside, and then quilt over the place where the sections meet. I find quilts hold up pretty well that way. But yours was a huge undertaking. Great job!

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  4. Congratulations! You have a lovely quilt. Thanks for sharing your tips.

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  5. Kathy R,
    Great job on a beautiful quilt. Have many good dreams under it! Thanks for showing where you found hints to help in the project. petuniakr@aol.com

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  6. Congratulations!! It's beautiful! The longer drop was definitely worth the extra work. We have our holiday quilt on the bed and it's a smidge too small :)

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  7. WOW!!! Awesome finish, Sarah!!! In plenty of time, too! I love that it's your Christmas present to you! I'm in Louise's camp--our Christmas quilt could be a smidge larger!

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  8. Awesome finish!! You'll enjoy that beautiful quilt for years to come.

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  9. I love it!!!! Stamps quilts are my 2020 favorite. I think I may need to do one for Christmas!

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  10. really nice! what is the largest size top you can fit on your quilting frame? just curious

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  11. Wow! That is beautiful! Congratulations on such a great finish.

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  12. You get a big whoop, whoop!! Your quilt is absolutely beautiful!! Thank you for the link and info on joining the two sides together. Hugs,

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  13. Great minds think alike! Although my project is substantially smaller than yours, I made a Christmas tree wallhanging with Solstice and love it. Your quilt is wonderful! And such a neat way to quilt half and half and join them together. Perfect!

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  14. What a sparkly Christmas quilt! I don't think I'd have the courage to try to quilt in two separate sections that I'd then have to attach. Yes, the red striped binding is the perfect finishing touch.

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  15. it's wonderful.. and bright for the holidays. Glad you're okay...

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  16. I have considered quilting 2 halves for a King size quilt but have not been brave enough. Fabulous job!

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  17. Sarah, your quilt looks so beautiful! Clever you! figuring out how to sew it together so well. Marry Christmas to you!
    I have a question for you...the knead less bread that you are making... do you need a 5 1/2 quart cast iron pot for that. I just have a 3 1/2 pot and I'm wondering if I could use that. Thanks!

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  18. This is one fanTABulous quilt Sarah! Good info on joining the two halves to make the monster of a quilt! Looks wonderful on your bed. I know what you mean about poofy; one layer of wool is plenty for me but then I tend to like flat quilts. :-)

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  19. Whoop whoop and then some! Love it!
    I don’t get into making holiday themed quilts, but I love seeing those others make! Good for you!

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  20. Oh, aren't you clever! This turned out beautifully! What a satisfying quilt! Yay!

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  21. It turned out great. And that striped binding is the icing on the cake. Congrats on the finish.

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  22. Totally glorious! I did one like that and did it by hand for the very same reason. I did it on my ironing board; made it go pretty fast rather with the height.

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  23. Whoop whoop, your quilt is gorgeous! I'm thrilled that you found my tutorial and that it worked for you, thanks for the link. All the best!

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  24. WooHoo! This is wonderful Sarah. I cannot even imagine finishing such a large quilt as fast as you did. Just amazing.

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  25. Congratulations, Sarah! And yes, that binding totally makes the quilt.

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  26. Your festive quilt is beautiful. Love the binding!

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  27. ooo! Awesome job with the quilt! I'm just starting to work up a king size Christmas quilt for us to have next year. Do you know the dimensions you pieced this to? That's the kind of drop I would like!

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