First. I m not a quilter. This was my first and I don’t have plans for others. I occasionally enjoy sewing and I love learning how to make things. It came about by my having a bunch of fabric and being annoyed I didn’t have a plan for it. My friend Megan has brought me fabric as gifts a couple of times as she found patterns she knew I would like. Of that, I had banana print and jellyfish leftover from some projects when I had used them at my sister’s (we made all sorts of things, pillow cases, a throw pillow cover, pot holders, an apron, a tote bag, etc) and my sister informed me the artist behind the print was the same for both, Tula Pink, and that she made fabric with bears. Off to the quilt shop we went! I bought that and other cute forest animals, a floral and some stripes. I had now too much for the projects we planned and more than I wanted for quilts throw pillow covers, but I had wanted these fabrics used and liked the idea of them for the house. I realized it kind of had to be a throw blanket.
I laid everything out, found my smallest scrap (the yellow and pink bananas) and straightened it up, then based everything off of that, making strips the same height and all varying lengths.
I laid the strips out to mix them up and make sure it was fairly balanced. I then sewed this into strips as they were placed, then each strip end to end, measured length to see how much I had and it worked out to me being able to make an 80x72in quilt! I cut the pieces to make it 80 inches, and then attached those.
With my quilt top done, I ended to cut and match the yardage for the back.
Finger pointing to the seam where I matched up the pattern.
I used wool batting and basting spray to sandwich my layers for quilting. My sewing machine and I got in a fight, so I hand quilted and hand sewed the binding.. It was a lot, but the outcome was worth it. I used 8wt perle thread in 6 different colors. The whole thing took me 2 weeks of work, long hours and tired hands.
Here you can see my stitches.
The wool batting made it extra fluffy (which I love) and it washed up really nice!
It’s a pretty big throw as you can see on our queen bed, but I like it being extra big! Using up so many scraps and fat quarters I’d stashed feels good too. Best of all, now I know I can do it.. if I ever want to.