Bedspread for the Alfa

After having good results making the reading pillow and the chair vibrator pad cover out of fleece, I decided to look into making a duvet cover or quilt for the bed in the Alfa. Over the years I seem to have collected a half dozen comforters, and I thought a removable duvet cover would be better than a new quilt.

I was intrigued by the wide variety of fleece fabrics I have seen. However even though there are many available at the several large fabric stores in town, none were quite what I wanted.

I decided to look online and found the Hancock Fabric Site was having a huge sale.  I had paid $12.99 for the one yard of fleece I used for the pillow and seat cover. Hancock has over 900 prints! One of them was the same as the one I had bought locally, so I knew what the quality was. Many of the prints were on a closeout sale for $3.99 per yard.   

Knowing a good deal when I saw it, I looked at all 900+ designs and picked two. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to make or how. To be on the safe side I ordered six yards of each. One is a Native American design, and the other is a rustic cabin print.  They don't really go together, but that's OK because you don't see them both at the same time.

I've been itching to get started on it, but with railings to sand, animal heads to make, and Thanksgiving to enjoy, I had to leave the fabric alone for a while.

Which was probably a good thing, because by the time I was able to get to work I had nixed the duvet cover as too much trouble to take on and off the comforter, and a quilt as possibly being too warm for summer nights.

Instead I decided on making a reversible fleece  bedspread that could be used as a lighter blanket in warmer weather.

First I cut each six yard piece in half.  I used one 60' x 108' piece as a center panel and cut two 22' x 108' side panels from the second half.  I did this with each of the designs creating identical front and back pieces.

Sewing the individual sides was not too hard.  I had moved my sewing machine to the dining room table because I knew I couldn't manage this work on the small sewing cabinet I normally use.

Getting old is a bummer.  I never had so much trouble getting a bobbin started or threading the machine needle as I do now.

By the time the two sides were put together, handling the twelve yards of fabric was a challenge.

I did six lines of stitching from top to bottom, and a line all around the edge to stabilize the two layers. For each line I had to roll and bundle the spread so I could sew the line.

I made it spread size so that I could bring it up over the pillows when the bed is made.  I find the regular Queen size comforters are a bit short for that.

I also made it to drape over the sides and end of the bed.  

This is the more rustic side.  

One spread, two decors. Which do you like better?  Which seasons do you think each matches up with?