How big for a King?

 Ooooh, Alycia posted a GREAT thinkler this morning:  How big does a king size quilt really need to be?

And heaven knows I needed a little push to finish tidying "his side" of the bedroom (he'll forgive me later once I help him put everything back 😜), but truly... I've sometimes wondered how big/small is TOO big/small for a bed?

We have a California King; repurposed an old waterbed frame years ago for a GREAT deal since the lower drawers weren't salvagable.  Hubby's a tall guy at 6'6", so the extra length has been beneficial for his longer legs.  And he INSISTS on untucking the sheets on his side at the foot of the bed.  

Google gave me the following sizing:

and I'm thankful the Queen size is also included because a couple of the quilts I grabbed to test investigate this question currently rest on our queen in the guest bedroom (ie: formerly known as Caitlyn's room)

Now, interestingly enough, when I measured our mattress, it was closer to 70" x 82" and 12" deep.

So, here's some sizing for you...

Celtic Solstice - 110" x 110"
(Bonnie K. Hunter's 2013 mystery)

Celtic Solstice reside on our bed most of the time, however with the warmer summer months now, and after a deep clean of the bedroom a couple weeks ago, she's currently folded up and resting.  She fits our bed the best of all the quilts you'll see; a true king-size quilt.  She does sometimes begin falling off the end of the bed, but also that often happens due to the clothing that was lazily tossed at the close of a day.  Ya know, the clothing that isn't quite dirty, but no longer clean enough to be placed back in the closet.  Please tell me you do this too! And although he doesn't admit it, hubby kicks the sheets and quilt, and I'll often waken with the quilt draping over and off MY foot corner of the bed, dangerously threatening to slide free completely.

I digress...

Roll Roll Cottonboll - 95" x 110"
Bonnie K. Hunter's 2010 mystery

Currently, Roll Roll Cottonboll resides on the bed.  Length-wise, she's great.  Width-wise, she's certainly lacking.  And remember, when I measured my mattress width, it showed closer to 70" than the published 72", which is even more narrow that the standard king at a published 76".

Orca Bay - 84" x 93"
Bonnie K. Hunter's 2011 mystery

Wanting to see how some other quilts fit... Orca Bay was grabbed from the queen guest bed for a fitting.
Hmm... t'would defintely say "nope."  Much too small despite being 14" wider and about 11" longer than my measured mattress.  She fits lovely on the queen bed, however.

Candace's Stars (Granny's Stars) - 76" x 94"
appeared in July/August 2009 Love of Quilting

Awww, what a favorite.  I'm mean, c'mon!... what FUN to dig back through the blog to find when this one was completed:  July 2, 2009.  Candace was only THREE, and now... recently graduated and off on her way to a degree in Finance.

Again, I digress...
Most certainly too small for a king, and she sometimes rests on the queen.  Decently comfortable on the queen bed.

Smith Mountain Morning - 80" x 89"
Bonnie K. Hunter

This is one of my more recent finishes (2022!) ((Have I said how happy I am to be BACK in action now?  Back to blogging, back to quilting dedication, just.... back!)). 
I was shocked at how SMALL she looks on the king!  I thought for sure she'd be a better fit, but clearly... nopers.  However, she'd probably work well on the queen, however she was lovingly folded back up for... shrug!  I dunno.  But she's folded and ready for... whenever.

Those are the only larger quilts I grabbed for this little experimentation.  
So, Alycia...yeah.  I now can quite literally see why quilts are pushing the 100+" dimensions for king size.  I mean, even Roll Roll extending by ~25" beyond the measured width of the mattress still barely fits.
If I had to choose the perfect size for our bed/mattress... hmmm..... I wouldn't design it smaller than 100" square, nor larger than 110" square.

Meaningful morning, for sure!

"She does it again!"

First, a HUGE thank you out to Angela (SoScrappy) for taking some time to throw an idea my way regarding my July UFO, Wafer Cookies. Particularly her suggestion of using the larger set of blocks for the border. BOY! Did THAT suggestion get the light-bulb burning bright!! However, after playing with the blocks, I did just the opposite layout, and threw in some "connector" blocks...

For much of the morning, I went straight-away, working on it. Inspiration and renewed excitement kept me pluggin and pluggin away today. The top is ALMOST complete; the last 2" border will be placed on tomorrow. WOW! THANKS ANGELA!


An update on Candace's Stars. The other night before the binding was on, I brought it upstairs to show DH.
Me: So, what do you think?
DH: Who's is that?
Me: Candace's
DH: ((**raises eyebrow**)) Ya think it's big enough???
Me: Well, she'll grow into it...
DH: I really like it
Me: ME TOO!
DH: It's too good to give to her
Me: HA
Well, currently, it is being schlept up-n-down the stairs everyday, between her bed and the couch for movie-snuggle time.
Me: Candace, do you like your quilt?
Candace: Ya momma, my kwuilt is purty
Cailtyn: Candace, that's not a quilt, it's a blanket
Candace: NO! It's a kwuilt! And it's mine! Right momma?
Me: Yes, Candace, it is yours and yes, it is a quilt.
Cailtyn: Oh, it's a quilt because you made it, Mom?
Me: Yes, Cailtyn
It will definitely be an heirloom--this has now become my FAVORITE quilt I've made of all times.

And now to the title of this post......
Yup! I'm doing it again! Starting yet another project. HOWEVER, it is only because while working on Wafer Cookies, I needed to make 5 more larger blocks. So, off to the 2.5" bin I went; it was OVERFLOWING! As I was digging around, I started thinking that maybe I should try to find a pattern that uses 2.5" strips. When I checked emails this afternoon, I also took a moment to look over at Quiltville to see what I could find. Lo-n-behold, Star Struck struck my fancy, so I started digging around tonight and started sorting the fabrics. At first, I was going to just go completely scrappy, but I didn't realize I had so much BLUE! So....blue it was and whites/yellows. I only added in the yellows because I thought this would be a great quilt for a possible student or even Cassie (or myself) because our school colors are blue-n-gold (yellow). At one point, it looked like the 2.5" bin exploded in my sewing room with strips all over!!!
Candace came to see what I was up to and grabbed the camera. She's becoming quite the photographer of "mommy." Actually, it's kinda neat to see the world from her height. The first 8 blocks went rather quickly and easy. The blue stars really are getting lost because I used some light blues as "blues" instead of "lights/whites". I have now removed all light blues from the blues and will only use medium and dark blues. These 8 will just get thrown in here-n-there; I'm really not obsessing too much; scraps are getting used up and I'll be making a complete quilt without buying anything new.

So, I had some great progress again today. However, I have a new mathematical equation I realized today:

Good quilter = Bad housekeeper

My house is being neglected, as is the garden. I've gotten a bit obsessed with quilting again; but I don't think I needed to make that statement, huh? I simply MUST take a break from quilting again, but, well... I'd like to get Wafer Cookies to a completed flimsy, at least, and I still need to finish up the DWR pillow-sham quilting.

The holiday weekend hits tomorrow and we'll be heading up to the farm for the weekend. I don't think I'll be taking any quilting projects with me. **Shrug** Not sure yet.....

Happy Thursday. Oops---scratch that! Happy Friday (12:09 AM right now)
---I need to stop drinking coffee in the evening---

Two and a half finishes!

Today was a mix of quilting and unexpected-change-of-plans-veggin'-with-no-need-to-rush day.

When I made my goal list last night, I failed to remember that I had Volleyball tonight, so I wasn't able to accomplish all of it.

But, Candace's Stars is complete. No final pics yet though. July finish #1

The Pinwheels and Prairie Points also saw a complete finish. July finish #2
Linda (Lines and Loves) also finished up her version of it and posted it tonight. Be sure to take a peek at hers as well.




The "half" finish is these two rag quilts that I've had sewn together for about a month, but the cutting has been waiting, and waiting. So, while talking to my MIL on the phone last night, we worked out a barter--I have a quilt top of hers awaiting quilting, so her "fee" for me doing that will be for her to snip the rags. They will then be given (donated) to my mother's church's Baptismal blanket program.


OH! AND, I have three PIF projects freshly completed as well, but not yet ready to be mailed out to the recipients.

Nancy (Patchwork Penguin) has chosen #9 as the July UFO Challenge. Yeah!!! It's my wafer cookie quilt! THIS one shouldn't take too much to finish up, but if I recall, the reason I was hung up was because I couldn't "see" a layout I like with all the blocks I had. Here is the first post I had regarding the Wafer Cookie quilt, and here is the possible layout I had in mind.

Happy Wednesday.

The addiction returns!!!

The day was NOT full of quilting; I was out of the house by 7:45 am and didn't return until 4:30 pm. However, by 6:00 pm, I was heading downstairs after dinner while the girls were relaxing with The Bee Movie.

The outcome -- Pinwheels and Prairie Points top finished (my rename of A Pinwheel Baby quilt, Moda Bake Shop.)


This pattern is AQF!!!!!
ADORABLE and QUICK and FUN!

I did not put binding on Candace's Stars yet, so no "final finish" for June.

However, my goals for tomorrow:

Bind Candace's Stars (My FIRST planned July finish)

Sandwich, quilt and bind Pinwheels and Prairie Points (My SECOND planned July finish)

Finish quilting the middle section of DWR

Finish quilting the 2nd Pillow Sham for DWR (My sorta THIRD planned July finish)

Sandwich the final section of DWR

and THEN....if I still have time and if my patience caves, I'll see about tackling the first step of Lynne's Celtic Knot Mystery :0)

Happy Tuesday!

A NEAR finish; and inspiration hits at 10:00!!!

Candace's Stars (Granny's Stars) is nearly completed. All that remains is the binding, so one good hour should see it completed. Maybe tomorrow night???
However, I won't have much time tomorrow to do any quilting because I'll be at school, sitting on an interview panel for a new JH SS position....

I was finished with all the border attachments and quilting by 11:00 this morning; I should have just bit the bullet to put the binding on, but I sat back and admired a little too long; then lunch hit. 

Afterward, I just twiddled and tidied the sewing room (VERY LITTLE).  I pulled out some recent purchases over the past month and ironed/folded.
While doing so, I was inspired by some of the newly purchased "shirtings," the darkest blue in the pic and the red on bottom left;  I dug through my fabric to see if there were other "civil-war-looking" fabrics and came up with what is pictured.  Now....those will sit together (probably for the next year or so) while awaiting the perfect pattern.

Trust me!  There is something to waiting for that perfect pattern.  I had been collecting those FQ's and Fat-eighths of 30's fabrics for over a year (the ones that went into Candace's Stars). 

And speaking of 30's fabrics...

tonight, after taking some time to do a little more quilting on the DWR (**SIGH**--that quilt is starting to be the new monkey-on-my-back!)

Anyway, I got back into "tidy-mode," and ironed/folded some more of my fabrics that have been sitting for some time!  Then, I came upon my "scraps" of the 30's fabrics.  Golly, that pattern REALLY over-estimated the amount needed.  It called for 21 FQ's----HA!  I DID (amazingly) have 21 different fabrics, but once I started unfolding them, I found out MANY of them were only fat-eighths!  No biggy---I had PLENTY, with quite a bit left over. 

It was nearing 10:00 (PM), and suddenly I was INSPIRED!  I took exactly ONE minute to walk across the room to the exact spot that THIS PATTERN had been lain out, patiently waiting if (and when) I would ever make it.

Clearly, I didn't have any Charm Pack, but with about 30 minutes of cutting, I had all 24 - 5" squares needed, and 64 - 2.5" squares.  AND---what's more...I was given a "sign!"  I had used all of my white muslin up on the DWR and Candace's Stars, so I had to hunt around to see what I had in white.  I pulled a crumpled pile of white (NO LIE!  It was very crumpled from washing/drying MONTHS ago!) from the floor and ironed/folded it.  I had JUST enough for what was called for, with only a little string left.  Yup---it was meant to be!

Anyway---after another 10 minutes, I cut all the 5" squares in half, but really didn't want to sit and sew.  My movie had ended just after 10:00, and it had been so quiet that I didn't want to disrupt the silence with my machine.  All bodies had gone to bed at 10:15, so... it was so peaceful.

Instead, I prepped all 64 of the Prairie Points needed.  Golly!  Those things are TINY!  Can you kinda guesstimate from the pic?  It started as a 2.5" square.  This will be the first quilt I've made using Prairie Points.

This quilt should be easy enough.  It sure would be nice to have another finish by the end of June (umm...yeah...that'd be tomorrow).  But, I promised to take Cassie for a short run tomorrow night;  she'll be running the kid's 1/2 mile at my 5K race next weekend over at my sister's city.

So, 4 minutes to midnight---I suppose I better TRY to get to bed. BUT, #3 (Candace) had a late nap (5:00 - 8:30!!!) and is WIDE awake watching Wow-Wow-Wubzy and eating a bagel. Oh dear.....I'll give her 15 more minutes, THEN I'll tie her down and tape her eye-lids shut if I need to.

Happy Midnight!

Where does the time go???

Good golly, Miss Molly! You'd think with "summer vacation" here, time would be coming out my ears to get this project and that project done!
Well....time sure is available....it's just getting filled with everyone BUT sewing! Typically my days consist of waking, getting the two older girls off to summer school by 8:15, then Candace and I go out for a run/walk/bike ride until 9-9:30. Home we go for a little snack. THEN I might actually get some sewing time, either that or we head outside for garden-time. Lately, it's been a lot of garden time! By 2:00, back to picking up the girls from summer school, then the rest of the afternoon......golly! I dunno! Time just flies. THEN, once DH comes home from work and we eat dinner, then it's outside for the rest of the evening to work on one garden or the other.

Last night, though....I asked DH if he minded if I "take the night off" of gardening to get some sewing done. Afterall....LOOK! This is the disarray of my basement carpeted area right now!

I have found time to complete quilting one (of the three) sections for the DWR. But, since I'm seeing stipples in my sleep, I decided to take a break from it and return to Granny's Stars. Last night, I was able to put all the rows together and will be quilting it in two sections. The first section was basted after piecing some backing, and still remains under the machine.

When I finish this post, I'm off to downstairs for a couple of hours. The girls have the task of cleaning up the loft area if they want to go to the Library later this afternoon---it's the deal we worked out. G'ma and G'pa might be coming up this weekend, and the loft is a disaster!

Happy Friday AM!

Sewing, Sewing and more sewing

Bright and early (okay...so maybe not at the crack of dawn), but by 9:00 am Saturday morning, MIL and I were hittin' the sewing machines with a large goal at hand: finish all 56 DWR blocks and the 30 half-blocks. We had a lovely assembly line going at one point; Caitlyn brought a stack of prepped blocks over to us, Candace refilled our yellow corner triangle stacks, Bonnei (MIL) and I sewed them on...

... and Cassie ironed them over. By 11:00, everyone was ready for a short break, so we made up some brunch of left-over spaghetti hot-dish and toast. Afterwards, DH packed the three girls up in the car to head over to do some work for the father of the groom; he also took the DWR wall-hanging with him so Paul (father) could work on the custom frame. With uninterrupted sewing time, MIL and I were able to finish up the full block by 12:30. Needing a little break, we headed in to town to pick up a few things at Walmart, and NATURALLY I needed to check over the fabric section. THIS is one Walmart that has a SUPER selection of "budget-priced" fabric. I came away with 7 yards of fabric spending only $14.00 on it; LOVELY bright colors (sorry, no pic yet).

Through the rest of the afternoon and today, MIL and I have finished all blocks, sewed rows together into three sections for me to quilt, and we even prepped for two pillow shams. During some "down-time" last night, MIL and I worked as a tag-team on my yo-yo's for Granny's Stars (Candace's Stars). She cut out the circles, and I sewed the yo-yo's. I have 28 of 36 done. (Sorry, no pics of those either.

When walking outside yesterday, Cassie saw this butterfly on the porch window. Only after taking the picture, did we realize the tiny blue sections of the wing; but we actually wondered if the butterfly's wing was see-through in those pieces, and we were actually seeing the window frame. ?????

Finally, on the running-front; I did not run yesterday :0( One excuse: I was tired in the morning. Then another excuse: it was HOT all day! Then the final excuse; dinner was DELICIOUS (and late) last night, so I was too full to run before the sun-light disappeared.

BUT, tonight, I dutifully tried to at least make the best of it by running a aerobic-interval workout; it ended up being 3 miles.

So...I now have my hands full of quilting projects: DWR, Granny's Stars, and a third project that my MIL wants me to quilt for her. It's a lovely Grandmother's Flowers-like top; pics will make their way on here tomorrow.

Hopefully you all had a lovely weekend!
Happy Sunday.

Granny's Stars progress...

Oh yes, we have progress! I suppose going a night without sleep shouldn't affect me too much???? **wink**
Nah.... BUT I did forego my run yesterday (and today) :0( I will definitely hit the pavement tomorrow and Sunday while up at the farm.

We will be heading out to the farm soon. Pizza is in the oven, all laundry is almost done (one more load in the dryer), luggage is packed as well as the sewing machine and quilting supplies for tomorrow's quilting-day with MIL. We hope to finish all 56 DWR blocks (and 30 half-DWR blocks) and sew rows into three sections for me to quilt over the next week or so. We are ahead of schedule :0)

Back to Granny's Stars (ie: Candace's Stars) I have the border applique and yo-yo fabric packed for the trip up to the farm. I figured we'll have light the entire way there, so I might as well make use of the near 2 hours travel time. I've never made a yo-yo before, but my trial turned out just fine. (pictured in the right of the photo). My MIL has her yo-yo maker up at the farm, so I'll see if that goes any quicker. I have freezer-paper "ironed" on for the leaves and petals; however, I won't be turning any seam allowances over. I tried a sample leaf with seam allowance, and it's just too down-right putzy! I should have used paper-backed fusible, but instead I'll just put a dab of glue (washable glue-stick) on each piece to hold it in place while I applique it---this way there won't be ANY stiffness due to use of any fusible.

Okay---pizza buzzer just dinged. See you all back on Sunday!

TEMPTATION! I-could-not-resist!

Oh dear....oh dear. Pay NO attention to how many UFO's and WIP's I have listed on my side-bar!
Today in the mail, my Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine came, and the quilt on the cover chanted to me while I strolled back to the house, sifting through the pages----"make me! make me! make me!" Now, who am *I* to ignore a whimpering call like THAT?!?!?!? It was seriously 15 minutes after walking into the house, and I was downstairs, shoving aside all the
Perkiomen Daydreams strip-sets I had been dutifully working on earlier today (and was clippin' along SO WELL!!!!) I mean....LOOK! There are an additional 100 blocks in the making right here.........*sigh*





But, nope....I dug into the stash and found EVERYTHING I need to make this quilt. So, a cut, cut, cutting I went, right up until the moment I needed to dash out the door for volleyball tonight. I am PUMPED to jump right in tomorrow morning after taking the girls to summer school, and after running 4 miles with Candace (in the joggin' stroller). I LOVE this quilt and am glad I have finally found the perfect pattern to use of the stash of 30's Reproduction frabrics I've been saving up. The name of the quilt in the mag is Grandma's Stars, but mine will most likely be called Candace's Stars, since I think this one will be made for her. She is the only one who hasn't had a quilt made from Mom yet.....

I am not feeling TOO guilty at diving into a new project, because even though I have a ba-zillion other projects going on, I HAVE been quilt-busy the past couple of days....

The Double Wedding Ring wall-hanging I'm making for the family friend is as complete as it'll get from me. It is ready to be handed over to the father of the groom for a custom frame to be made for it.






Also, I have been working on some PIF projects. Naturally, I don't want to show the entire projects, but here's a sneaky-peek :0)





HAPPY Wednesday!