The Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt

There's a sew-along happening! The Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt Sew-Along is hosted by Sewtopia, The Next Stitch and Denyse Schmidt (Denyse is the designer of this timeless version of a traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt). This pattern and sew-along is for the updated free-wheeling version of the original Single Girl Quilt pattern and includes guidelines for improvising the arcs for each block.

The Single Girl Quilt has been on my quilt bucket list for several years, and more recently (in the last 3 months) I had purchased both the Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt pattern and templates. So when the sew along was announced I was ready to go. It was the nudge I needed to just do it.

Now, free-wheeling (improvised piecing) is not exactly my preferred sewing style, and the 36 arcs required for this quilt were pieced over a one week period. Not that I struggled with the pattern or the instructions. In fact, it was easy, and together with the templates, all the blocks came together so well.  It is more that I like to measure .... everything. In the end, having to let go of creating identical pieced arcs was freeing, and I could not be happier with the finished quilt.

I have used two of my most loved fabric collections to piece the arcs: Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope. Both these collections are by Denyse Schmidt, and both have been reprinted in more recent years. Many of the fabric pieces used are from the original collections and in color ways that are now very hard to find. It was a joy working with these long stashed fabrics, and it seemed appropriate to cut into them for this quilt!

I have quilted the quilt with an all over 1/2" grid of intersecting quilting lines, and I have used a heavier weight thread (Aurifil 28wt - the grey spool) for the top thread. The heavier/thicker thread gives the stitch a lovely definition. Yes, the quilting took forever; hours and hours of mindless stitching (and almost a whole spool of top thread - 750 meters), but the texture is so worth it.

Click on any image for a larger view.

For the back of the quilt I have used a single floral/ribbon print from the reprinted Katie Jump Rope collection. I love this print and was happy to have sufficient yardage on hand to use for the quilt back.

And for the binding I was rather thrilled (and surprised) to find a half yard of stripe fabric from the original Katie Jump Rope collection in my stash. The green/black/white/ stripe adds a nice contrast finished edge to the quilt. I also decided I needed to spend some extra time with the quilt and hand slip stitched the binding to the quilt back; time to reflect and enjoy the make journey.

QUILT DETAILS

Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt

Finished quilt measures 62.5 inches x 62.5 inches.

Pattern :

Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt by Denyse Schmidt

36 quarter circle arc blocks.

9 complete circles.

Fabrics Used:

Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt.

Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White.

THREAD for quilting:

Aurifil 28wt thread (the gray spool) for quilting:

 (28wt top thread - 40wt thread in the bobbin).

Batting:

Low loft cotton batting - bleached white.

Of course, it is not too late to join the Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt Along! It has only just begun and it is a no-pressure and at your leisure project, plus both Sewtopia and The Next Stitch offer useful hints/tips via email and Instagram videos for successful completion. For all the sew along details, pattern, and acrylic templates (although the acrylic templates are not a requirement, they sure are useful!) please check out the following:

• Sewtopia (United States)
• The Next Stitch (Australia)

And so it goes ... another quilt ticked off my bucket list. I could not be more pleased with this quilt. Thank you for scrolling through the many photos. Taking photos of a quilt with so much white fabric is tricky and I thought that as these photos turned out ok, I might as well show them!

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Sunday Stash - Flea Market Fancy Reprint (February 2012)
Sunday Stash - Katie Jump Rope (December 2015)
For more Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt inspiration check out the Instagram hashtag:

• #freewheelingsinglegirlsewalong
• #freewheelingsinglegirlsal
• #freewheelingsinglegirl

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