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Friday, September 22, 2023

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.

17 comments:

  1. Cozy and inviting! And that was a lot of hand sewing! Although I assume you used a machine to sew on the backing.

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    1. Debra, nope, I hand-sewed the whole thing. I was a little worried that the furry backing would jam up my sewing machine, so I didn't trust it to anything but my own ten fingers.

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  2. This is so creative! And it does look very warm and fuzzy <3

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    1. Thanks, Katie! The backing is so soft -- I forget who, but one of us likened it to petting our hamster, that you almost can't tell you are touching something because it's so soft and fluffy.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, Rebecca! I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

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  4. What fun! I love the fur backing, it feels very Middle-earth, especially Hobbit/Dwarvish.

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    1. Livia, yes! I tried to find something that felt sort of Middle-earth-ish for all the fabrics. The fur backing makes me think of Rohan and Gondor, in particular.

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  5. I love how it came out, and I love the faux-fur! Looks soft and delightful.

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  6. It's GORGEOUS. *insert heart eyes here* Can't wait to see how the other projects go using this fabric scheme.

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    1. Olivia, you can ogle this in a couple weeks in person! Just got my second set of fabric panels yesterday, so will start trying my hand at some new projects soon.

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  7. I am inspired! I don't think I'm ready to tackle a whole quilt, but I might take some smaller project out of my "to complete someday" pile and actually complete it!

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    1. VT, I'm so happy to hear I've inspired you to pick up and finish a project! That can be so satisfying.

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  8. This is beautiful, Rachel! Loved reading what you had to do at each stage and seeing the progression photos. Hope you enjoy many happy years curled up reading under it. Hope all good with you. Maddy

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    1. Thanks, Maddy! It was really fun project, and it's finally getting to be cool enough around here to actually use it :-)

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