So, for the first of these I would like to tell you about My Wedding Quilt. Which, although it is an idea I had about a year and a half ago, is still in progress!
I got married last summer and my parents hosted the reception at their house. This is a lovely, romantic, intimate and CRAZY thing to do. In my case it meant that my last semester of school was periodically interrupted by emails about colossally important details such as salt shakers (ooo!). I do believe that there are people out there who would have been interested and delighted to choose salt shakers for their lovely barn (did I mention it was in a barn?) wedding. I wasn't really one of them.
All that nonsense aside.
One decision that I was quite pleased with was My Wedding Quilt. I decided that I would make twenty quilt squares each of which would act as a center piece for one table. During the reception I would have people sign the square at their table and after the wedding (at my leisure!) I would sew the squares into My Wedding Quilt. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the step by step process, but I will illustrate as much as possible as I go.
For my quilt I chose a traditional autograph quilt pattern (there are many to choose from). I used fabrics that would match the rest of the decor of my wedding, mostly blues, yellows and whites, but spiced up with some bright pinks. I bought some fabric for the project and filled in with various leftovers from my small stash.
This is what each block would look like:
See how they make pretty stars when they're pieced together:
After assembling the blocks (with tons of much appreciated help from friends!), I ironed the blocks to slightly smaller squares of wax paper (to make them stiff) and then folded the edge of the block around the back of the paper, secured with scotch tape. This gave the block a neat finished look.
Each of these blocks was placed in the center of a table, and each table was provided with a Pigma Micron Waterproof fabric pen, which I purchased in bulk from ebay.
At the reception we made an announcement explaining the idea of the quilt and inviting people to sign. Almost everyone did sign; some people several times (thank you Philip and Rosie!). Some people simply signed their names, which was what I was expecting, but many people wrote little notes too, things they liked about the wedding, well wishes, blessings, doodles, quotes, etc. I love reading through, laughing and remembering. I especially love where some of my younger guests signed their scrawling signatures!
After the wedding, once I had gotten at least somewhat moved in to my new house, I quickly sewed the blocks together, and added a border. Thank you Leila for suggesting the scrappy looking border that I LOVE.
The next step was to decide how to quilt the thing. This is where things slowed down. The trick was to find a way of quilting it that would go with the overall look of the quilt and not interfere with the autographs. My brilliant (???) decision (after MONTHS of hemming and hawing) was to quilt a circle around each autograph and then to cover the rest with overlapping circles.
I love the way this looks. It is awesome and so dense it gives the quilt "that great crunchy feeling". However, after countless countless hours and HOURS and HOURS I am still quilting. I believe I have about 4/5ths complete at this point.
To guide me through this complicated pattern, I found a little embroidery hoop (about 2.5 inches in diameter) (thank you Sarah) which I used as a pattern and to the circles on with a washable marker. I first tested the washability of the marker on a scrap of fabric, BUT I did not test to see if it would still wash out after sitting for months and months (here's hoping!!).
Once I finish quilting (rolls eyes) I will bind it, using a bias binding and then I will wash it to remove (with any luck) all of the bright blue circles (although some people have said they like them...) and then hang it on a wall?? I had thought it would go on a guest bed, but it is twin sized and our guest bed is full. Besides I am not sure if, after all of this work, I will ever want it USED.
.jpg)