Stretching a quilt to fit a California King Bed

Here is a quilt that I made for my son for Christmas this year. I used the BQ pattern from Maple Island Quilts that has been in my file for quite some time. When I first looked at it, the directions seemed so strange to me, that I put in back in the package, and filed it away. When I picked the fabrics for this quilt, that pattern was the first to come to mind. I really needed something that would allow a large scale print to show up. So I dug it out and took the time to read it over. It really wasn't as difficult as I was trying to make it in my mind. There are a lot of different fabric requirements, but that is to accommodate a variety of sizes. Gheesh, when I started the sewing, it was a dream to piece. I have found a new love for 18" blocks. The quilt comes together very fast, which is what I needed especially at holiday time.

 I love matching pillows and shams, but I know he's a guy, and it's not manly to have all that fru-fru on the bed. What can I say, I am not a guy and I like it!  :-) After all it has cars on it, doesn't that count for something?????

I made the matching bed skirt too. Meadow Lyon Designs even had the perfect classic car pantograph to complete things. Not like I could have planned things better, but the pantograph was a perfect fit with the 18" blocks, and I was able to get a complete run without loosing any of the design, either side to side or top to bottom. Who ever has this happen? It was a stroke of luck I know, and I counted my blessings. I am happy to report that my son loved it, as well as hubby, who wishes he had one too.

Now for the stretching part. I have an HQ16 which I absolutely love. My only limitation is that my frame is only 10 foot which is 120 inches. Take off a few on each side and the room to accommodate the actual machine, and I come up a little short for these California King size beds. So I have found that by adding a BIG binding I can deal with that. If you notice my black and red stripes running up and down, that is actually my binding.  After my quilt is all quilted, I  build my stripe set as wide as I need, to get the added width I need. Then I sandwich it with my batting and backing (note: backing only - I cut about an inch wider than the front) and stitch the bottom together keeping those edges even with each other. I then stitch the top of the "binding" I am creating, including the batting layer to the top of my quilt. I haven't had an issue with the extra batting in the seam, but if you prefer you could trim it out. I flip my backing over, iron things all flat, and fold under the extra backing then stitch that down on my seam line on the back of the quilt, it really isn't any different than sewing down a binding at that point. I stitched in the ditch along the color changes to hold he batting in place to finish it off. Voila! I have a quilt big enough for that California King now.

This is not a new trick for me. Here is a Bonnie Hunter's scrap quilt, Pineapple Blossoms that I stretched to fit my bed size. Using up my 2 1/2" strips was perfect for this scrap quilt.  This will give you plenty of opportunity to play with quilt tops now won't it?

 Enjoy!!