Saturday 19 May 2018

Wedding Quilt

Morning all, I'm writing this from a lovely sunny garden. After such a long snowy winter/spring every sunny day feels like a bit of a gift.




 I wanted to share something that has been just over a year in the making. My wedding quilt. I decided when I got married last year that I didn't want a guest book that would go on some shelf somewhere and just collect dust.


An instagram friend Jocoulson82 gave me the idea to get my guests to sign fabric squares and turn them in to a patchwork quilt. This is the first time I've made a patchwork quilt and I'm so darn pleased with it. It's not my first attempt at patchwork however, I did make a patchwork bag to hold carrier bags. It came out more like crazy paving. I didn't know the idea was precise cutting that made everything line up. 


I did start off trying all sorts of fancy stitches bit of satin here and there but by the end it was all back stitch. Especially with some of my friends with small tight handwriting.



I had intended to quilt it all together as one however the very helpful lady at my local quilt shop Patchwork Parade suggested I quilt it in sections. She felt that as a beginner it might be a bit much to handle all at once. Never one to ignore the suggestions of someone who knows more than me it's precisely what I did.


I went for a very basic 9 square design to show of the embroidery so it ended up being four 9 squares wide by 6 tall. I was two embroidery squares short so added one for the date and one of the location to go in the bottom two corners.


I quilted them in three pieces of eight 9 squares each. I have never pricked myself so much with one project! Every time I moved my hand STAB!



I just went for basic stitching in the ditch to quilt it. I say I stitched in the ditch, it was more like stitch in the general vicinity of the ditch. Usually any little flaw would really annoy me but I'm so chuffed with how this turned out I really don't mind. I like that it makes it look homemade.



I used extra wide backing which was just every so slightly not enough to cover the whole back. Fortunately I'd bought a little 1/4 meter piece of sewing machine fabric so made this a pieced section and totally intentional....


This one is a spread sheet because my husband is an accountant and it's a reference to his wedding speech.


I've been hoarding scraps from projects for a few years now with the intention to make a quilt and I think this has given me the confidence to tip over the edge of making it happen. Sometimes all you need is to be able to picture in your head how each step will go.




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