the panda quilts: #20: lotta jansdotter california king quilt for our bed

we got a new california king-sized bed when we moved last march, and since then i've wanted to make a quilt for the bed. i've hoarded most of lotta jansdotter's windham fabrics since they first debuted in 2011. at one count, i had about 40 (!!?) different yards of her fabric from the 3 collections (echo, glimma, bella). So...it seemed perfect to use her fabrics for the bed quilt. the thought of seeing the fabric each and every day on my bed just seemed like the natural thing to do. she's by far my favorite designer (fabric and otherwise) and i don't imagine ever growing tired of the patterns or the colors.

a lot a lotta

i decided to go pretty simple design-wise for the quilt. because of the large size, i didn't want get too involved in something that would take me months and months (who has time for piecing intricate blocks with so many gift quilts on the horizon?!)  i chose about 30 of the fabrics (most of the ones in my stash, except the pinks and oranges) and cut strips 8 1/2" in length. from there, i cut random-sized widths and pieced the rows that way. it was as random and improvisational as i've ever been, and the strips came together surprisingly fast. i ended up with 9 rows, each about 120" long. i played around with a few layouts (horizontal stripes? vertical? sashing or no?)

 i decided on horizontal with sashing strips (i used kona snow). i used all lotta for the back, as well (picked up extra yardage of a few prints during a mega fabric.com sale!)

all along, i knew i didn't want to quilt this one myself. but i also knew i wasn't 100% pleased with my outsourced-quilting experience from before...but as luck would have it, i talked to a girl at this baby shower who told me about her mom's local quilting business, all sewn together. i am SO very pleased with the whole experience. nanette showed me all the quilting options & was incredibly patient with my indecisiveness. i even changed my mind about the design after sleeping on it (from 'overlapping arches' to this one instead) and she was receptive and understanding. because she's also a fan of more modern-style quilts, she understood where i was coming from and what suited the look of the quilt.  she did the binding for me, HAD IT FINISHED IN ONE WEEK, and was affordable. if you happen to need quilting services in the nashville area, i wholeheartedly recommend this place.

close up of the quilting

after i picked the quilt up, i snapped these pictures, threw it in the wash, and we've been snuggling with it ever since. i love it!!!