It’s Week 5 of the Sweet Home Quilt Along and that means it’s time to finish any putting together of the quilt top and sandwiching the layers for quilting or maybe sending it off to your favorite long armer for quilting! Whichever way you decide to finish your quilt, you’ll want to select the type of batting that will be used inside the quilt sandwich and in this weeks tutorial video we’ll be helping to take the mystery out of choosing batting.

I know many of you have only just joined the quilt along so don’t worry about being behind. Even though we have a schedule that my co-host Maureen Cracknell and I are following to present the QAL, this is a go-at-your-own-pace sew along and we want happy makers rather than stressed makers! The Sweet Home Members Area, blog, and Tutorials pages will remain up even after the QAL has ended after Week 6. The Kit Directory page will remain up as long as shops still have kits to offer.

The pattern can be purchased from my Shop page.

For my Bookish version I’m using the Mark My Words print from my Bookish collection as my backing and filling my quilt with Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting. This quilt was sent off to Brooke Becker at Lady Belle Fabric to be long arm quilted. Brooke also has kits for this Bookish version the you can find a link for on the Kit Directory page.

My Holiday Mix version Sweet Home quilt also has Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting inside. I used Maureen’s quilting cotton Plaid of My Dreams check for the backing and Terri Neil of Quilting Rubies did this beautiful guided long arm quilting on it.

The Holiday Mix Sweet Home quilt will be bound with Chenille-It faux chenille binding and next week we’ll have a special tutorial video all about adding Chenille-It to your quilts and projects. If you’re interested in adding Blooming Bias to your quilt before then I’ve added tutorial links to last weeks post HERE that you can view.

Bonus Project

Remember those half-square triangle (HST) cast off pieces from making your Log Cabin and Bungalow roofs? I hope you hung onto those usable scraps and stitched them together to create new HST units. The stitched units can be trimmed down to an unfinished 4’’ square (3-1/2’’ finished) and used in new projects. I decided to turn my Bookish quilt trimmings into a 16’’ square pillow.

I had kept all the pieces together as I had trimmed the roof sections of my Log Cabins and Bungalows then chain pieced the stack. Once they were trimmed into 4’’ squares I played around with arranging the units to make some sort of pretty arrangement—the possibilities are almost endless when it comes to HSTs.

I could’ve gone for something more structured or quilt block-like but really liked this very simple HST on point arrangement. I did end up picking some of the HSTs apart to have single triangle edges. Picking apart is easy and the triangles were already trimmed to size so it wasn’t any big deal.

I felt it had a very vintage look to it with the golden brown color and it goes so well with my home decor. It’d be a perfect toss pillow addition in my family room and brought in texture rather than a quilt pattern.

Please excuse my thread-covered design wall but here’s my HST arrangement all sewn together and squared up into an 18’’ square. I have some wonderful Hobbs Batting 16’’ square pillow forms (also part of this weeks giveaway prize) that will be the perfect size for my pillow.

You may be asking why I squared my pillow top to 18’’ if I plan to have a finished 16’’ pillow? Well, since this is an improve sort of pillow, I wasn’t so concerned with the outside edge HSTs getting clipped points so I decided to start larger than I needed, knowing the top was to be quilted and quilting will shrink up the size and a 1/2’’ seam allowance around the outside edge to assemble the pillow will also shrink the finished size. It turned out perfectly!

I used my favorite Hidden Zipper tutorial for adding a zipper closure. This is so easy if you’ve never tried it before or have been hesitant about adding a zip to a pillow. It’s a professional finish and makes switching out pillow covers a breeze!

I used Art Gallery Fabrics Textured Denim in Canyon Sunset to back my pillow. This heavy-weight denim is great for pillow backings. For the quilted top I layered an 18’’ square quilting cotton backing, an 18’’ square of Hobbs Tuscany Silk and a square of Hobbs Heirloom 100% Cotton, and the pieced top. I machine quilted a very simple straight line quilting that followed the lines of the HSTs.

It’s a good feeling using up scraps! I didn’t use all the HSTs from this quilt and the few that are left I think will make a lovely hot pad or mug rugs. What are you planning to do with your left over scraps? My free Journal Cover pattern on my Free Projects page is also a great project for left over scraps!

OUR SPONSORS

GIVEAWAY

Each Wednesday as we begin a new QAL week, we also announce that weekly giveaway prize! To enter for the prizes, Members need to leave a comment on the weekly blog post to be eligible for the drawing. Read more about the entry details below.

This week we have a special guest representative from Hobbs Batting for our tutorial video as well as wonderful giveaway prizes from our Hobbs Batting sponsor. I had the great pleasure to video chat with Stephanie Hackney, Director of Sales and Marketing at Hobbs Craft and Retail Division about all the wonderful Hobbs products available to quilters and makers. I learned so much from the interview and hope you enjoy it as well for taking the mystery out of selecting the perfect batting for your next project! Don’t miss this weeks video on the Sweet Home QAL Tutorials page!

TODAY'S FEATURED SPONSOR IS Hobbs Batting!

Hobbs Quilt Batting has manufactured high-quality batting for hobbyist, commercial, art and show quilters since 1978. They're proud to come from a family of quilters and are committed to providing the same quality Hobbs batting that provide to their own family of quilters. At Hobbs Batting, they never forget that quilts are gifts from the heart - an expression of love, commitment and caring for a specific recipient - or an expression of artistry and skill- artistry and that's submitted and judged in quilt shows and events around the word - or both! At Hobbs they're committed to doing their part to enhance our #JoyofQuilting!

Hobbsbatting.com  *  Blog  *  Instagram  *  Facebook  *  We hope you visiting Hobbs Quilt Batting!

For this week's Sweet Home QAL Giveaway, Hobbs Batting is offering two lucky winners a queen size Hobbs Tuscany SUPREME 100% Unbleached Cotton batting and a 16’’ square Hobbs Poly-down pillow form like the one I used in my pillow. Maureen and I love using these Hobbs products in our projects and know you’ll love them too!

Note: Due to the large box size for shipping this giveaway, Members with US addresses only are eligible for this giveaway. See entry details below.

Tuscany Supreme 100% Unbleached Cotton Batting, is Hobbs thickest and most cuddly cotton batting yet and is especially designed to give a soft hand and even appearance. Exceptionally easy to quilt by machine.

Made with only the finest cotton fibers, this clean, unbleached, long-staple, virgin cotton batting proudly displays the Cotton Incorporated Seal. Containing no scrim or binders, this 100% cotton product is lightly needle punched to resist bunching and shifting.

Hobbs Tuscany Supreme 100% Unbleached Cotton Batting should be paired with medium or dark fabrics – if paired with white or light-colored fabrics, natural (unbleached) cotton can slightly darken the fabrics. We recommend quilters test this batting with their chosen fabric(s) to see if ‘darkening’ will be an issue.

Hobbs Tuscany Supreme 100% Unbleached Cotton Batting may be stitched up to 3-4″ apart, and it is machine washable (once inside a quilt), with shrinkage of 4-6% expected. Please keep in mind that this batting is only lightly needle-punched to allow it to remain soft and fluffy – this can result in more shrinkage unless the quilter heavily stitches/quilts it.

Hobbs Poly-Down Pillow Pals Pillow Inserts (w/ultrasoft, polished cotton covers) maintain their shape, offer superior loft, are completely washable and are non-allergenic.

Created from siliconized, white, polyester fibers, Hobbs Poly-Down Pillow Pals Pillow Inserts are crafted with pride in the USA and weight only 12 oz.

These pillow inserts work well in covers you make yourself or those you purchase, and are perfect for use in living rooms, on sitting benches, or in kids’ room where they’ll likely get a lot of use (and maybe even abuse!).

Giveaway Now Closed

Congratulations to Lana Manis and Mary Reyngoudt

*Note: This giveaway is open to QAL Members and will ship to US addresses only (sorry, International Members). If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment--you can't win if I can't contact you!

1. Simply leave a comment here under this post! (Counts as first comment entry.)

2. Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about the Q&A interview with Stephanie of Hobbs Batting. What did you learn from the video that you didn’t know before about batting. (This comment counts as a second entry). 

3. Following me (Sharon), Maureen, and Hobbs Batting qualifies you to make a third entry and ups your chances to win this fantastic prize! Just let me know the social platform you’re following us on by making a separate comment on this post (counts as a third entry).

That’s THREE possible entries and up to three chances to win! Enter now through Sunday, September 26, 2021. I’ll be drawing TWO lucky winners from the comment pool on this post. The winning comments will be picked at random around 4 pm Eastern. I’ll post the name of the winners on this post once they've been notified and responded to my email. Good luck!

Next week is the big finale week where Maureen and I will show off our finished quilts! I’ll have two quilt to show you and can’t wait! We’ve also some fun additional tutorial/interview videos planned for next week from special Sponsor guests that I’m excited to share with the Sweet Home QAL Members!

If you’re on Instagram, we’re loving seeing all your Sweet Home quilt progress photos so keep those coming! Tag us @maureencracknell and @sharonhollanddesigns and use the #sweethomeqal2021 hashtag so we don’t miss any of it.

Thanks for joining us on this fun quilt along, we’re so happy you’re here!

Sharon & Maureen