Lorna and Chris have a king size bed and Lorna needs a new cover for it. Not a pieced quilt, but still a quilt. She fell in love with two fabrics that I have (had) on the bolt—one is Tula Pink’s huge dot (printed on wide fabric) and the other is a floral print by Amy Butler  printed on sateen.

After much thinking, I decided that it would be best to make this a quilt without binding. Instead we would layer the top and back right sides together with the batting against the top, sew the edges, turn it inside out, and then quilt it. It was not nearly as easy as it sounds.

We cleared out my living room and vacuumed. Then we placed the batting on the floor. After a few false starts, we did manage to use basting spray to stick the the top to the batting. It took more than an hour and I did let slip a few choice words.

Lorna trimmed the batting even with the edges of the top fabric. Next we placed the backing right side down on the top. I then pulled out all of my mats and many rulers and we squared up the outer edges.

Lorna used Clover’s basting clips to hold all the edges together. I took it to my machine and sewed all the way around this monster, leaving an opening at the bottom to turn it through. This quilt is a lot heavier than I thought it would be.

The walking foot came in very handy.

Lorna had to leave so I trimmed the corners and then turned the whole thing inside out which was surprisingly satisfying.

I tidied and pressed the edges, finished the opening, and top stitched all the way around, 1/2″ from the finished edges.

It’s not done yet because it has to have some quilting. Otherwise the batting will fall apart with use and washing. Steve is going to do a little basting on it this weekend to help keep everything together during the quilting process.

Lorna wants to quilt it and it will be quite a job for a new sewer. We’re thinking of a diagonal grid, between the big dots. I may try to get some of the longest lines sewn for her if there’s time before my foot surgery on December 3. Otherwise I’ll be shouting encouragement from the other room while she sews :-).