Thimbleblossoms' Norway Quilt / Beauties Pageant 108

In November 2019, I did something scary: I counted my WIPs. After a spate of making decisions, pairing long-stashed fabrics with patterns, there were a lot. (Well, a lot for me.) And when all was said and done, a list of 21 WIPs was staring me down.

The good news is that just over a year later, only six projects remain on that list! One of those I’ve checked off recently is Thimbleblossoms’ Norway Quilt!

Big, Bold Blocks

I fell in love with this pattern, in part, because of its super-big blocks and the super-big impact they create. Each of these lovelies measures in at 26 inches square, bringing the quilt top to 78 inches square. 

For me, the tricky thing about sewing this pattern from stash is that each block requires a third of a yard of the focal fabric. (I checked the math, and quarter-yards or fat quarters won’t work.) Lucky for me, I had been collecting prints from Kate & Birdie’s Christmas collections in generous half-yard cuts or bigger. : )

The Fabric Selection

The fabric I had on hand dictated my decisions with Norway. Half-yards from K&B’s Winter’s Lane, Return to Winter’s Lane, and Winterberry were put to good use. I also employed some bigger cuts, like the pale blue pine branch fabric, also from K&B, which I used for those chunky crosses in the secondary pattern. The background is Kona Snow, because I buy it by the bolt. (Ha!) I picked up the almost-solid red and brown snowflake print at my local quilt shop to round out the palette.

My stashed cuts further determined the design of the back. Here, I featured a block that was demoted from the quilt top.

To top off this triumph of stash usage, I listed the K&B scraps on FeelGood Fibers, and they sold quickly.

The Quilting

I’ve spoiled myself since the pandemic hit: I’ve sent five projects out for longarming instead of tackling them myself. Doing so has helped me check WIPs off my quilty to-do list, but it’s come at a cost. Even though this beauty was large for my domestic to handle, I chose to quilt it myself to save money and get the finished quilt on my bed faster.

I began quilting parallel lines on the diagonal 3 inches apart. Because the quilt sandwich was so large and bulky, I started each line in the middle of the quilt and progressed outward. I buried a lot of threads with this approach, but it was worth it. I considered adding another set of quilting lines to make a cross-hatch but instead quilted a parallel line in between the original ones. (I sewed this second set of lines edge to edge, which worked well.) I’m pretty darn pleased with how it came out!

 

 

Now it’s your turn: Share your finishes in this week’s linky! BTW ... I owe a bunch of you replies from last week’s comments. They’re coming! If you don’t receive replies to comments you’ve left for me, you’re likely a no-reply blogger. In that case, drop me an email at frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com with your email address, and I can start replying!

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