Quilt and Bedroom Makeover Reveal

The winner of the Freshly Picked Mocc giveaway is K. who said, We have been trying to snag some of these beauties for awhile! On a thrift store budget, its hard to explain $60 for moccs for babe, but GAH they are so stinkin cute! One day…. ELK HIDE ������!.


Please email me at thislittlemiggy at gmail dot com and we’ll get you your moccs asap!  
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Finally, after months and months AND months… it’s finished.  The Quilt.
Behold:

As you may or may not know, when my husband announced that he was going to make a bed (in part so we could upgrade to a king) I was on a mission to find the perfect bedding.  When I finally found the perfect coverlet, I was heartbroken to see that it only came in a queen size.  After going back and forth and knowing I would never be happy if I didn’t have that blanket on my bed, I decided to make it myself.  When faced with an enormous project like this I can’t think too hard about how long and how much work it will take, instead I think about each little part as a project unto itself.  First, was mapping the quilt and pattern.  Next was deciding on and ordering the fabric, then cutting the fabric, then sewing 80 individual stripes, and so on.  In between each of these mini-projects I would take breaks (sometimes up to two weeks) before I’d start on the next step.  I don’t know about you, but breaking it down like this really takes the stress off of a big project.

Here are some pictures from the over 6 month process of making a King Size quilt…

Some things to note if you care about quilting:
1)  I used a linen/cotton blend for the grey parts and 100% linen for the cream.  I know that linen holds up well over time and thought that using linen was a great choice.  However, I will never quilt with 100% linen again and it is the hardest fabric to get a straight cut on.  While I’ve sewn with linen before without a problem, trying to cut very long, very thin straight lines was a challenge.  Additionally, I didn’t find out until after ward that linen may not in fact last as long as cotton and for some it even unravels in quilts.  What!?!  I wanted to cry when I heard this, but since the quilting stitches are very close together reinforcing the weave (1 inch stripes over much of it) and since I pre washed all my fabric, I’m hoping it will fare well.  If in a few years it starts to show too much wear, I’ll move it to a guest bedroom or some place where it will have less stress to endure.
2)  I could not do the actual quilting myself as my regular home machined can’t handle a king size quilt.  So I had the actual quilting done by a local quilter, Danielle Wilkes.  She was fantastic! Danielle came to my house to look at/pick up the quilt and talked me through my vision, even explaining why certain things wouldn’t work–which I appreciate.  You need someone who is going to give it to you straight.  The last thing you want to do is hand your quilt over to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing and hands you back a ruined quilt.  Apparently this happens more than you’d think–a guy who owns a local sewing machine repair shop told my husband he’s seen a lot of women burst into tears after being handed back their ruined quilt.  So sad!  Make sure you go to a quilting store and get some reputable names of quilters.  Don’t be afraid to walk away from someone if you don’t have confidence in them!  I didn’t spend six months piecing this mother together to have it all fall apart at the end.  If you live in the San Antonio/Austin area I’d highly recommend Danielle who belongs to and used to be the president of the SA Modern Quilting Guild!  (Bonus, her prices are very reasonable).
3)  Making a quilt–especially a king size–is not necessarily a cheaper option.  Especially if you’re buying all new fabric and have to send it out to be quilted.  I’m not going to say the final total here, but lets just say it was in the hundreds… of dollars.  That being said, I feel that I’ve created an heirloom.  A piece of art that can be passed down long after I’m gone.  (Hopefully!)   

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Also, when we decided to make a bed and a quilt, it sort of became a bedroom makeover.  You can see some specific posts on the bed here and the desk re-do here–but here are some pictures of our bedroom before and after.  (I don’t even have decent before pictures–the room is a mess, I have no idea where our usual bedding is… but of course it makes for a more dramatic reveal.  Plus this must have been from when we first moved here because the girls are so young… Enjoy!)

We started by painting the room white, then painting the wall behind the bed a dark grey.  The bed, the quilt and the desk area are the main components.  The corner of the room I’m not showing didn’t change much except for the  wall color.  I had plans for some hanging pendants, a large painting above the bed, recovering the fabric on the chair/side table and a rug…but getting to this point feels really good, so I’m posting it as is!

When we finally got the quilt on the bed Thursday evening my husband commented that it was about a year ago when he started the bed.  We sorta laughed that it took an entire year to do a bed and a quilt, but at the same time I really appreciate the craftsmanship and dedication that went into these pieces.  No quick DIY’s here, but some really great long term results.

Thanks for indulging me with these bedroom posts.  🙂