Sunday, June 30, 2013

Katy and Ryan's Wedding Quilt





My friend's daughter got married this weekend near Richmond, Virginia.  We went down to Charlottesville on Friday and toured Montpelier, got up Saturday and wandered around Charlottesville.  They were having a farmer's market and they have a nice pedestrian mall with little shops to wander around in. 

Here is my hubby with a bedazzled couch we found 
on our wanderings:


We drove over to Mechanicsville Saturday afternoon for the wedding.  It was lovely and I cried through the whole thing! I made a quilt to give the bride and groom (who I don't know very well-I am good friends with her mom) and I took some pictures of the process along the way.


So, when I think of making a quilt for someone, I make a few sketches and try to imagine what they would like and what I am capable of making (ha!).  In this case, I wasn't sure what the couple would like.  I spent a few days second guessing myself.  I even sewed some squares together, thinking maybe I should try to be more traditional, not everyone likes modern.

But in the end, I went with modern.  I hope they like it.  I hope they love it.  But if they only use it for picnics or throw it in the guest bedroom, I am okay with that.

 Here is the front of the finished quilt.  It is 72 inches by 60 inches. Big enough to snuggle under but not really bed sized.

I went with one of my favorite color schemes: yellow and gray.



Finished!
 Here is my original sketchbook with the math notations so I could figure out how much fabric to cut.  I settled on a giant improv star.







I cut big pieces of both colors and started sewing.  It took me a few days to get the top done.  About midway through, after I rejected using the totally unrelated squares from above, I figured out the back.  So I pieced that as I was finishing up the front. I chain piece as much as possible.




I lost my design wall when I lost my sewing room (my son moved back home) so here is the quilt on my living room floor.


I actually finished both the top and the back at about the same time, which is a new one for me and quite nice.  It meant that I was ready for the next step.


I did something else out of order (for me) and that is I made the binding next!  I had some wonderful yellow stripes that worked out perfectly-I had just enough!  I made it before the basting and quilting.

After pondering the quilting design, time (or lack of time) won out.  I quilted a meandering loop-de-loop all over the quilt.  Then I popped that already made binding on.  Tada!  Done days ahead of time!  (Also never happens!)

I took the quilt with us on the trip with big ideas of taking great pictures at a historical place but.... of course I left it until the parking lot at the reception!  My nice friends help me take the pictures.  

Done!

Best wishes to Katy and Ryan!










My friends Sherry and Paul held the quilt up for me!

Back

Front of the quilt.  I turned the rectangle near the top left into the label.  I quilted their names , the date, and my name there.

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