The queen of king quilts
I’m not the queen of king quilts, but I couldn’t pass up that title.
Remember the small quilt that I made for Jack a while back? With a small toddler sized quilt done, I decided I was ready for a king size quilt. What could go wrong?
I was near tears a few times with this hoser, but I made it through and it’s done.
And I’m never making one that big again (that’s what she said). At least that is what I’m saying now.
The quilt took me forever (how long? F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Name that movie!), but mostly because I kept starting and stopping. I crunched hard on this and finally finished it up in some long nights to get it ready for a friend’s visit. Currently, our spare bedroom contains an exercise bike, my wedding dress (slumped in the bottom of the bag and never sent to the dry cleaner. I got married almost 8 years ago. Outside. It was 102 degrees.), and a bare mattress on the floor that once belonged to my in-laws. Basically, the room looks like a setting for a snuff film. The quilt “perks” it up a bit. Not much, but a bit.
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| Just because, here are the enormous weeds on the side of my house that I can’t grow anything and tend to forget about. Oh, and a reflection of me taking pictures in my fleece bathrobe. IN JUNE. It’s cold. |
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| You might remember the bird fabric from my throw pillows! |
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| The green fabric with white interlocking rings is leftover from my insulated curtains! |
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| The green fabric is the back of the quilt. I spent $2.99 at Goodwill for that. |
i made a quilt (crazy) some years ago. By the time I finished it (eons) it must have weighed 100 pounds!! lol and my fingers were sore from all that sewing, not to mention my brain. I’m like those who run around buying old used quilts and covers.
Oh quilting.. the first quilt I made seemed to be king size with 2 million (give or take) 6×6 squares. I had this crazy idea to make it quilted on both sides, completely different from eachother. The squares side took me so long, I refused to buy fabric unless it was a super soft cotton blend on sale for $1 a yard. So just waiting for fabric I liked took a while. The other side is a different story… I love the feel of cool 400+ count sheets on my skin so I decided to cut long strips of 3 different kinds of sheets and quilt them together and its very nice! For the stuffing I literally cut out the stuffing of a comforter I didn’t use anymore, I’m so cheap lol. When I (finally) finshed (1.5 yrs later) I told myself, never again! But I’ve since made a roughly queen size one for my sister and I’m looking forward to making another when the time feels right 🙂
Oh my goodness you’re hilarious! I know the feeling when I made my my first big quilt. My boyfriend walked in the room and asked all cheerfully how it was going. I just turned to him and said I don’t want to talk about it. I was so annoyed with the whole thing!! I haven’t sewn since. I was thinking about starting a quilt for our king size bed then I read your tutorial. Haha thank you for reminding me the hell I went though!!!
1) Impressive work, quilts are hard.
2) Squints is the MAN!
SonyaAnn sent me. That quilt is really pretty! I sew…..I crochet….I have thought about quilting. I think a king size quilt will never happen for me.
When I was unemployed for 2 years due to moving to a new city and being over-qualified for doing what I had experience in doing (graphic design with a degree in BA communications.. meh, no I do not want to be a PRO)I felt I had to prove I was useful at something, so I started crafting myself a quilt. GODSAKES I blead and sweated and ached to finish that mofo blanket and it turned out ok, but I learned a few things. Needles under the fingernails HURT!! Always work away your threads otherwise your quilt will start pulling apart during the first wash, and try not to use the cheapest bloody material you can get, as when you are finished with your inferior material quilt, you sit with an inferior material quilt with 100’s of woman hours in it that you are too afraid to wash lol.
Then after that, my mom and I made a wedding band quilt for my cousin’s wedding (the quilt is still around her marriage isn’t), and then I started to crochet granny patches and sewed them together in motives to make a crochet blanket/quilt thingy. thank god I got a job or else I’d have had to take up even more hobbies to prove my worth! I don’t know how women who don’t have to work make it without going bonkers.
must say though, after you are done and your back is sore and your fingers have stopped bleeding, you can look at your creation and think, dang I made that!
I’ve never had a needle under the fingernail, but I did once put a staple through my finger. I can imagine neither are too fantastic!
I am proud of my accomplishment, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again anytime soon.
It looks awesome though!
I thought really hard about quilting….I might still try like baby blanket or something, but a king size would never happen.
If you’re getting in to it, I would highly recommend starting with something small; it will come together much more quickly. And no one will care if it isn’t perfect because it will just get spit up on it soon anyway!
Quilting is the only sewing project that makes me panicky. Part because it’s tedious work, and part because I’m convinced my tiniest mistake will ruin the whole thing.
I just stick to buying every discarded homemade quilt I can find. 😉 Same with crocheted blankets. I should start a rescue for thrown away quilts.
I’m sure I did it wrong, but at one point when I was trying to put in the filling, I was literally IN the quilt trying to make sure it was flat and fitting.
Your rescue sounds like a great idea! ;-D
I have a bunch of t-shirts that I want to turn into a quilt.
Only I don’t have a sewing machine. And can barely sew by hand. Not sure I want to do that much work by hand!
So this sit in my plastic drawer until I 1) get the gumption to toss them or 2) get a sewing machine and teach myself how to sew.
PS- The SANDLOT! Love that movie =)
Ding ding ding, nice work on the quote! I wish I had a prize to send you. My sister and I use to have a pair of fire belly toads. One had lost an eye at some point, so we named them Benny and Squints. You’re killing me smalls!
If you have access to a local freecycle.org group, post that you’re looking for a sewing machine. Someone giving away one on my local group this week. Or talk to someone who no longer sews but wants their machine to go to a friend. I could barely use my sister’s machine about a year ago, and here I am making something I’m pretty proud of!
Nessa, there are many quilters out there who will make your quilt for you. A friend of mine had this done for her daughter’s high school graduation. I am a quilter so have made my own t-shirt quilt. I used T-shirts I bought in every country I’ve visited. I turned out great–king size. If you decide to try it yourself, there are simple directions out there. Personally, I think you should learn to quilt. Most quilt shops have classes.
As much as I love quilting, making larger ones is a pain to get through my sewing machine. Trying to manhandle anything larger than a crib quilt size just gets difficult. I did brainstorm a method that has worked well and doesn’t require such troubles. I took a thrifted bed sheet and laid the batting on top of it. I then reused a bunch of t-shirts and instead of sewing them together to make a top, I zigzag stitched the pieces onto the back and batting as I went. Once I had covered used enough tshirts to cover the batting, I used some homemade bias tape to finish the edges. It came out with a very cool crazy quilt look to it, cost very little, and we use it for our camping picnic quilt. Not the most sophisticated of techniques, but it worked.
Your quilt looks fantastic! I like the design of the top. We have moved to having handmade quilts and throws in the house, rather than thicker comforters. Easier to clean, looks cozier, and far cheaper!
I know I made mine ass backwards, but it didn’t seem that hard to get it in my machine. It was a bit unwieldy at times, but I’m sure I did it wrong! ;-D