Frolic is a FINISH. . .At LAST! (Post 12)

Quilting pattern

My friend and fellow Mystery Maven, Christie, quilted Frolic for me. We chose a curved vine motif quilted in lime green thread. I liked the results. I had purchased batting that was 120 inches wide on a roll. I thought that I had purchased 132 inches so that I could piece the batting to be six inches bigger than the top. Christie let me know that the batting was a couple inches short. She did an awesome job of making it work. 

I didn't try to measure the batting. . .I don't have a space large enough to measure accurately. I am sorry that she had the headache of not enough to deal with! She added a piece of batting to ensure the batting reached to the edge of the quilt. I did that as well in a spot.

I had planned to machine stitch the binding but then decided to hand stitch it so that took a lot more time. Then I decided to add a sleeve. I had to purchase more fabric.  Hand stitching the sleeve took some time too!

View of the back

For the label, I used a leftover block. I thought that I would finish this project before 2021 ended as I had machine sewn the binding on the quilt the first week in December. I amended the information on the label a bit. From now on, I'll write the label when I've finished the quilt! The leftover block worked great as a label. I will use a leftover block as a label another time!

Once I had completed all the stitching, I washed the starch out of the quilt. I did pre-wash the fabrics and I did use color catchers during the final wash. Unfortunately, I had places where the fabrics. . .mostly red; but there were a couple places where the blues ran too.

Label

I spent a day using Dawn and then Synthropol to reduce the bleeding effects. The quilt is 119 inches square. Washing it so many times was like wrestling a 1000 pound steer. (I grew up on a farm and we raised beef cattle.) The verdict was the bleed is lighter; but, still noticeable.

Finished front

Likely, the bleeding culprits were the scraps I had developed before I made prewashing a priority. While I'm disappointed about the bleeding, I'm still going to enjoy the quilt. It looks nice on the California King bed. It is going to live on the king bed in the guest room though!

I used a ton of scraps in this project. So stitching the blocks was a trip down memory lane which was a good diversion while stitching so many blocks! I'm linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.

This was goal number one on my January list. It was goal number one on my First Quarter list. It was my One Monthly Goal. Please visit  Patty at Elm Street quilts to read about other successful quilters with their monthly goals. Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up It is my first finish for the year! It is my first finish of a Bonnie Hunter mystery! 

I used 33.5 yards of fabric. This month, I purchased 20 yards for various projects so I have used 13.5 yards of stash this year. I hope that I can do better this year at using stash and less well at stocking it!

Frolic was the project that we formed our Bonnie Hunter group, The Mystery Mavens. We have had new people join us and some of the founding members aren't as active as they were. Life has taken them away from the group; but, they tell me they will be back! For me, they have all been a blessing. Without their support, I would not have completed this project!

To review previous posts regarding this project, click on the links listed:

12. Frolic Back Pieced

11. Frolic Is A Top 

10. Making Progress on Frolic Border

9. Final Pieced Border

8. Final Pieced Border In Process

7. Frolic Blocks--More Sewn

6. Frolic post 6

5. Frolic post 5

4. Frolic post 4

3. Frolic post 3

2. "Frolick"ing Around With the Mavens post 2

1. Frolic Clue #1