My Middle-earth Quilt

I did it!  I finished my Middle-earth quilt throw blanket thing!  And on Hobbit Day, no less :-D

I've been working on this throw blanket since the end of July.  I bought a set of twelve beautiful fabric panels from Sweet Sequels that were printed with Haleigh DeRocher's lovely Impressionistic Tolkien artwork, first of all.  

Then I bought a fluffy faux fur fabric for the background and two contrasting green fabrics for the front, both from Hobby Lobby.

I laid out the panels in a design I liked, and then interspersed them with the green fabric, which I had cut into pieces the same size as the artwork panels.

Then I sewed all those pieces together by hand, first sewing them into strips of seven blocks each, then sewing those strips together.  

I just worked on that every now and then, usually in the evening while watching a TV show episode to relax or something.  I finished sewing all the blocks together in mid-August.

Then it was time to cut down the faux fur backing fabric to fit, which was the hardest part, really.  I ended up laying it all out on the floor in my library to cut it.  Once I was done cutting, I was left with a pretty disgusting pile of fluff.

Then I pinned the wrong sides of front and back together and sewed all the way around the edge, except for about an 8-inch gap on one side.  Pulled the whole thing through the gap so it was now inside-in, sewed the gap shut, and then sewed all the way around the edge again so it would lie flat.  Tacked it down in four places in the middle so the back and front don't shift around a lot, and ta-da!  I'm done!

It suits our library couch so well!  I can't wait to snuggle up under this while reading this fall and winter.  That backing fabric is soooooo soft and warm.

The whole project cost me $60-$70, and took about two months of very occasional working.  I loved making it!  And... I have a lot of the backing left, plus some of the contrasting fabric, so I actually ordered another set of the fabric panels from Sweet Sequels this month, and I plan to make at least one throw pillow to match this and go with it on the couch.  I might also make some book sleeves.  I might even offer one as a prize for the giveaway next year for my annual Tolkien Blog Party.  We shall see!

Speaking of the blog party, today is the LAST DAY you can enter this year's giveaway!  If you haven't entered yet, go here and do so before 11:59pm EST!  And, if you haven't checked out the party at all yet, here's the kick-off post with links to all the others.