Kimberly’s Fleece Throw

So this is Kimberly’s quilt-in-a-day! Okay, we worked on it for two days but we started late on Saturday night and cut everything out in two hours. The next day we worked from 2:00 in the afternoon until 8:00 in the evening for a total of 8 hours! Not too shabby! The quilt measures approximately 60″ by 70″ with 42-10″ blocks. It is a very warm and heavy throw and quite inexpensive for such a large piece. The total cost of fabric was under $40! Fleece fabric was on sale at JoAnne’s for $4.99 a yard. (I know not very quilty of me, but hey, when you are on a budget…besides this was an experiment anyway!) We bought 1 yard each of the pink and orange sherberts and 2 yards of the patterned sunshine fabric. The furry back was on clearance for $6.00 a yard. We bought 2 yards. In hindsight, we should have purchased at least a half yard more of the each fleece. The cutting at the store was less than desirable as fleece stretches and when the girl made the cut she was pulling. So we didn’t end up getting quite what we paid for. (Again, I know, I know!) In addition, although we did have some leftover fabric the cutting was difficult and we ended up having to piece one of our 10″ finished blocks into a four patch. Not so bad in the end as it was a nice “signature” piece that we placed in a corner and it looks intentional! What I learned: Although fleece is stretchy and difficult to cut and sew, it can be very forgiving especially in a large block. When allowing your seams to show on the top of the quilt and then cutting them for that fringe effect all of your mismatched points are hidden! The faux fur backing, again a very difficult fabric to work with, is stretchy and fun. No need to cut, and trust me you don’t want to deal with the mess anyway, just attach the 2 yards directly to your top and you are finished. We put good sides together and sewed all around leaving a 10″ section to turn it inside out, then closed it by hand. No batting necessary as the fabrics are nice and heavy. Also, we didn’t quilt or tie this one. Kimberly wanted to try it as is and so far she really enjoys how it flows. What do you think?