Color Wheel Quilt, Part III

I realized that I wanted to make a quilt that fit a bed, so I went upstairs with the quilt top, a measuring tape and pencil and paper yesterday and figured out what that would take. I spread the new top on our king size bed so the whole thing would be visible but it's really made to fit a full-size bed with enough overhang to overlap with the frame, covering the boxspring and mattress edges. It's kind of cheater-supereasy quilt piecing but I think it works really well for this quilt and, from cutting through piecing, adding the border only took about 5 1/2 hours. I actually think I like it even more now with its frame. Of course, I always prefer homey and useful to art quilt so I shouldn't be too surprised.

Adding to the Color Wheel Quilt

(These instructions expand the quilt top to 72"x88", enough for a full bed)

Choose a sequence of 18 colors from the quilt and cut 2 - 3 1/2" x 12" rectangles from each fabric.

Choose another sequence of 19 colors from the quilt and cut 2 - 4 1/2" x 20" rectangles from each fabric.

I wanted to have the whole flow represented so I did selectively remove some fabrics. For example, there were two reds in the original and I took one out. There were also a lot of greens and warm purples so several of those were left out as well. I made sure the two sequences I picked met each other at a harmonious place as well.

Piece the strips (using 1/4" seams) so you have 2 identical 20" wide strips and 2 identical 12" wide strips.

Pin the 12" wide strips to two opposite sides of the color wheel so matching fabrics end up diagonally across from one another. Sew the seam using a 1/4" allowance. Press the seams toward the colored fabric.

Repeat pinning and sewing with the 20" strips on the remaining sides of the color wheel, making sure they are aligned to complete the color flow from the side strips. The same fabrics will again end up diagonal from each other across the quilt. Press the seams toward the colored fabric.

According to my calculations, I'm now going to need 5 1/3 yards of 44" wide backing fabric, cut into two 8' pieces and sewn together along a selvedge edge. I haven't figured out how much more bias strip I'm going to need yet.