Zig-Zag Quilt

I’ve had this quilt finished for quite some time yet never took a picture of it.  After it came out of the washer, it went straight on our bed and has been there ever since.  We both love it as a bed quilt because I made it larger than a normal queen size.

My husband is over six feet tall, and he usually untucks blankets from the bottom of the mattress almost immediately.  This one is almost 120″ long, so there’s a good foot and a half to tuck under the mattress, which keeps our bed nice and neat without having to remake the whole thing every morning.

There’s also a little extra on the sides for when he steals the covers during the night.  This keeps me happy.

The last part that I love about this quilt for a bed quilt is that it’s really soft.  It’s hand quilted, which gives it added softness, and I used Hobb’s Heirloom batting instead of my normal Warm & Natural.  The Hobbs is a bit lighter, and more loosely woven, which promotes the softness.  It’s great for a summer weight quilt.  I still love Warm & Natural, too, because it gives it more of a traditional weight, and it’s warmer, which is better for the winter.  It really all depends on the intended use for the quilt as to which I prefer.

Anyhow, I chose to follow the zig zags for the quilting and to use a teal colored crochet thread (size 10).  It shows off the hand quilting and adds a nice design element to the quilt.  The back especially shows off the quilted design.

I chose to bind the quilt in a coordinating solid mainly because I used every last scrap of print fabric in the quilt itself.  The back has some leftover zig zag pieces.  I would have liked to make them into zig zags, but I didn’t have enough left, so I made a checkerboard pattern instead.  Regardless, I like that the solid binding pulls out the green color and matches the quilting thread.

I originally bought this fabric to make a cathedral window quilt.  I bought it at least ten years ago from Joann’s.  I liked the stained glass look for that type of quilt, but I never made the quilt, and then I decided if I ever do make a cathedral window quilt, I’d rather have something else in the centers.  So, in an effort to clean out my stash a bit, this quilt was born.  I used a no-triangle piecing method (a good tutorial  can be found here, although my quilt is much larger).  The no-triangle method is easy, shortens cutting time, and chain pieces quickly.  If you have larger or directional prints, it’s easy to see the lines, but for smaller, busier prints, it works great.

I’ll be showing this at the fair this year in the hand-quilted category.  Until then, it will stay at home on our bed.