Friday, December 4, 2020

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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10 comments:

  1. Wow, Michelle, you have made amazing progress in a little over a year working on your WIPs (and a few new finishes have snuck in, too). This is a beauty and I hope you are getting wonderful sleep under it. :)

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  2. I love your Norwegian quilt, so lovely. Great progress whittling that WIP list down. Happy stitching!

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  3. I'm loving this quilt. The is the only problem with those big blocks is having the right stash.

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  4. Great finish. And well done on making your way through your list. I think I have three left to quilt. I just bought a bolt of Snow. ☺

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  5. Down to 6 projects is amazing in a year. I'm working on an old WIP right now and it really feels good to be making progress. Your quilt is lovely. I love the giant size blocks. And can you tell me about those clips on your wall holding the quilt? (Have they been there forever and I've failed to notice them!?)

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  6. Wow, I love your Nordic quilt!!! 26" blocks? Sounds great! And great job whittling down your wips to FOs!

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  7. Oh, you sound like me. Except I'm scared to list all the projects that I have waiting in the wings! I love your Norway Quilt. I made something similar last year with my stash of Kate & Birdie fabrics, my favorite! I posted a link, but I can't get the photo to appear. The link works though :)

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  8. How nice to be working toward catching up on all your WIPs. This pandemic has been excellent for that, I think, as I too am caught up. And good for you to quilt this one yourself! Domestic machine quilting my quilts is all I have done since 2002, and it's very satisfying. I'm getting ready to quilt another, and can't believe how many finishes I've had in 2020. That certainly wasn't my intent going into 2020. So, if nothing else, extra at-home time has been put to good use, and that's a great feeling.

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  9. Beautiful quilt, I love those Nordic stars

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  10. Love this quilt! I had hoped to use this pattern to make a quilt for our king sized master bedroom with the bundle of fat quarters of K&B's most recent holiday collection BUT then, like you, I read the pattern and realized the FQ's were not going to work! I love this pattern though and will certainly find fabric to make it.

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Thank you for commenting! I almost always respond to comments by email. If my response might interest others or if you're a no-reply blogger, I'll post it here.