Fresh new year, fresh new quilt

 Hi everyone, and welcome to 2022! How is the new year treating you so far? I had a lovely break and the week between Christmas and New Year's-- hereafter known as National Slacking-off Week-- was a nice respite from all the usual stuff. I read some books, visited my parents, and I may have even cooked a thing or two. I think that feeling I had was called "relaxing," but I'm not very familiar with that term anymore. And hey-- I sewed, too!

Which brings us to today's finish, which is not really the first quilt of 2022. Back in November, I made a queen sized quilt to give for Christmas, and then I quilted it myself and-- miracle of miracles-- it was finished in time for the holiday. I almost never make Christmas presents because they just add stress to my life when I'm also trying to do grades, but this was a special case. Here is the finished quilt:

 

 

There's a moose on my quilt! Better than a mouse, and much bigger. This is the Moose Buffalo Plaid quilt from Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, and you can get a pattern right HERE. She has the same kind of quilt with a bear and one with wolves, too, if you'd rather have that.

 

If you've ever seen a moose in person, you know they are enormous. Sure, they look great in the zoo, but they're pretty far away behind walls and moats and such. In the wild, they are as big as your car. The quilt isn't quite that big, but it is a queen size that I expanded by several rows and added a border to so that it will actually fit the bed it's intended for. Have you noticed that many quilts that are marked for a particular bed size will actually usually cover the top of the bed and not the sides? This ended up at just about 92 by 84. (Yes, a bit wider than it is long. To fit the bed, you know.)

 

I quilted this myself on the (rental) longarm, and it took up most of the setup there. Officially you can do quilts up to about 112 inches wide, but I wouldn't want to try it. I used a panto called Cotton, and it went really fast. I'm not sure it suits the quilt, necessarily, but at that point a more involved panto was not in my skill set, so it worked. I used a cotton and wool blend batting, so it's fairly light but really warm and cozy.

I actually only took the center part to the quilt shop with me and quilted it on the longarm, then brought the quilted piece home and added the borders, which I quilted on my own machine with straight lines. Why did I do this? Because this was a special gift and I only wanted the panto on the large center part, including the moose, with the borders different. It was extra work, but really worth it to me. I don't have the skills yet not to run the panto into the border, so it worked.

 

Amazingly, the moose is not paper pieced, but Lorna has very clear and ingenious directions for making the moose really realistic. There are a lot of pieces, but they go together pretty easily. And you can't really argue with the result. I've also done the bear from her patterns, and it is the same way, so no need to be afraid to jump in.

 

Those of you with sharp eyes probably noticed the upper right corner of the quilt, and I'll bet you can guess what happened there. There is more of the medium fabric in the quilt than any other, and I forgot to compensate for the extra rows I added, so I ended up a bit short. Oh well! I put some leftover pieces together and I'm calling it a design element. It didn't effect the coziness of the quilt, and the recipient didn't even blink.

 

I didn't get a picture of the quilt with the recipient (at least not one I can post), but I promise that it was received with a great deal of thanks, and immediately put to use right there on the sofa. I can attest that it's quite warm and guaranteed to see them through a cold winter, which is all we can ask for, right?

 

 

Hope all of you are enjoying the start to a new year and all that brings with it, and getting some stitching time in as well. I'm working on getting ready for the new semester, and still cleaning out all kinds of stuff. I finally unpacked the last box from the old house over the break, so I'm feeling quite virtuous!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique.