Halo Quilt Top
A few months ago I noticed an Instagram post about a sew along for the Jen Kingwell Halo Quilt. I started one – back in 2016 at a quilt retreat! After a little digging, I pulled out my blocks… all two of them. I thought one or two blocks a week would give me a finished Halo quilt top.
I turns out that the chaos of so many scraps was a little too much for me. Sometimes I can handle messes in my sewing room, but this one made me tense. So I plowed ahead and finished the blocks in a month. The only rules I had for myself were a fussy cut center square and attention to value. Beyond that, I simply pulled fabric, cut and sewed.
I have a word of advice if you’re thinking about making this quilt. Buy the acrylic templates .
Jen Kingwell is the designer of the pattern , and the templates do two things: improve accuracy, and speed up the cutting process. I didn’t have the templates, so I made my own from plastic and hand cut every piece of fabric in this quilt. After I’d finished about half of my blocks, I was really regretting my decision. But here we are, in 2020, and I had no idea how long it would take to get templates shipped so I kept going. It all worked out.
Most of the time I love the process of making really scrappy quilts, like my January quilt . Though I did not enjoy the process of making this quilt top as much, I realize it had a lot to do with the pandemic and instability of life at the time. Still, it was good to keep sewing even though it felt complicated. And now I have a finished halo quilt top to show for my efforts, rather than a box of pieces and a couple of blocks.
Next comes the quilting. It’s tempting to hand quilt this like so many others have done, but I am so slow with hand quilting. I also have a long list of hand sewing projects in various stages. I’m leaning toward machine quilting this one just so it doesn’t take forever to finish.
Either way, I have a finished Halo quilt top! Hooray!
It’s beautiful
A beautiful finished quilt top! I love all the scrappiness, and having those two little ‘rules’ helps bring everything together.
Well you have a spectacular piece of art to show for all the hard work you invested . Machine quilt it and accept all the accolades for this one. It is stunning and no doubt a treasure.
What a fantastic looking quilt top. Love the scrappy look so much! Kudos to you for persevering.:)
I thought that it is beautiful. I have a question about the templates – which ones and where.
Sandy, that is a great question! I have updated the post with a link to the acrylic template set – I was happy to find them on Amazon, instead of ordering from Australia. They really make this quilt easier to put together!
I am so glad you shared your feelings about this quilt. At that time it was one of my first quilts. OMGOODNESS! I wanted to give up, more than once!. For 3 years I did just that. This summer I dug it out, I was determined to finish my UFOs. When I did, I realized I had enough squares for a lap quilt. So I just sewed it all together. NOW, I get to quilt it up. It’s crooked, but I did it. You are right. It was definitely a time of uncertainty and oh, yes my husband was being treated for cancer. He has healed and is cancer free. Whatta a time! Anyhow, I do love the quilt but I won’t do it again. Thankful that chapter is over.