Thursday, September 27, 2018

The Wedding Is Here and The Quilt Is Ready!

It is with great honor that I present to you the wedding quilt for my son and our soon-to-be daughter-in-law! If you've followed me here or on Instagram, you are no doubt familiar with this quilt. It was my personal challenge quilt, and one that I am pleased to have made!


The wedding is Saturday, but the quilt is not really a surprise. They personally picked out the pattern, and have seen my progress photos online. This was truly a labor of love!

A monster king-sized quilt

It's a king-sized quilt, which will fit upon their queen-sized bed until they make the change to a larger bed. So at least for now, there will be plenty of drape for cozy comfort!


The quilt measures 108 x 108 inches. The pattern was for only a throw quilt, so I doubled the blocks, and then added even more. Then added 11 inches of borders all around. It just kept seeming to grow and grow and grow, lol! The pattern is Cacophony by Tina Lewis from the Winter 2016 edition of Modern Patchwork.


After stitching up 81 curves for these blocks, I now feel confident handling curves. I found I just needed to take my time, and the fabric fit together quite nicely. I don't know what I was afraid of! I actually learned a good lesson with this: "To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." by Joseph C. Pearce. True, that!



Quilting for this became an ongoing debate for me. I truly wanted to do the entire quilt with custom quilting. But time was not on my side. So I made a compromise with myself. I custom quilted the outside and inner borders, and did a pantograph within the interior of the quilt.


The pantograph I used is Gatsby by Sarah Ann Myers and sold by Urban Elements. It's a very modern panto for a modern quilt - perfect. It's definitely my new favorite!



Since the top is all solids, I wanted to add a little pizzazz for the backing. But what? I had some of this great fabric in my stash, the woodland motif was perfect for this couple, and the colors blended well. I did have to order more fabric because I didn't have that much in my stash, lol! But who can complain about 'having to order more fabric', eh?


I used Hobbs 80/20 batting with So Fine 50 thread, and it quilted up nicely and has a nice drape. It will wash up well over time, but how you wash a king-sized quilt is beyond me. Even my enormous size washing machine tub may not even be big enough for this one!  It was interesting in the photo above to see how the light from the bedside lamp made that triangular block look purple. No purple is involved in this quilt! It's actually a dark blue.

There's a down comforter beneath this quilt, so that's why it look 'lumpy'!

The only thing that can make this better is to know that Scott and Lauren will love it! It will definitely evoke a smile when they enter their bedroom, it's so bright and cheery!  Best wishes go to the two of them as they embark on this life-long journey. I'm so happy to be a small part of their celebration! 

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

P.S. This was also part of my September One Monthly Goal, and for my quarterly Finish-A-Long!

Linking up with:
OMG
Needle & Thread Thursday 
Linky Tuesday 
Oh, Scrap! 
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Midweek Makers

25 comments:

  1. It looks amazing and I think you should be so proud, all those curves and the quilting is just right for it. I do hope they have the most wonderful of days on Saturday and it all goes well. DH and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary this year and one set of friends have celebrated their 40th and another set on Saturday are celebrating their 50th. So the "8" year is definitely a good one in which to get married. We wish them all the love and luck in the World. Hugs, Susie xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. YES I too think this is AMAZING. Everything about it- the color choice, pattern,quilting,and backing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So fun!! What wonderful colors and a modern design that has movement. It's perfect and I hope they live to sleep under it for many years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! That is super pretty Barb! Love the quilting too, especially the feathers in the border - nice! And congrats on winning the Silk Throw size batting at the My Happy Place 2018 Rowalong.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barb, that is just gorgeous! What an accomplishment, and a beautiful statement of love for your son and soon-to-be-daughter-in-law!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness! What a GORGEOUS finish, Barb! I love every bit of this quilt, from the colors to the pattern to the fabulous quilting. Such lucky newlyweds to start with so much love and talent upon their bed :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. How could they NOT love THAT!!! WOWEE! That quilt is absolutely gorgeous! Good for you for conquering your fear of curves. I'm jealous of that. I'm still at the pre-conquering stage. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh wow, they will love it! Great job and good compromise on the quilting. Sometimes you just have to do that! It's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabulous! I know it was a challenge, but it was so worth it! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This quilt is stunning! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is so very modern, and wonderful! You did an outstanding job! They will love it. I want that backing....yards & yards of it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've watched the progress and love the finish and your quilting is amazing. I'm sue your son and DIL fell in love at first sight...with the quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It is a lovely finish. I like the fact that with the custom borders, that panto doesn't look like a panto so much. It looks like more freehand quilting!

    ReplyDelete
  14. So happy to see this one done and dusted! I like the panto you chose with customized borders. It so hard to make the quilting decisions, but your quote was really true. Creativity is a risk. I hope your son and future DIL just love this one.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a beauty and such a lovely gift.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Beautiful finish Barb! I know Scott and Lauren will love it. They should be married now as I write this!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful finish, love the colours and you must be so very pleased.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's a beautiful quilt made with love.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Stunning modern wedding quilt, Barb! Your pieced curves look fantastic, and the pantograph you picked is the perfect complement to the piecing lines. So, are you hand guided or computerized quilting? If following a paper pantograph pattern from the back of your machine, I'm wondering how you manage to stop and start the pantograph exactly at the border seam with every stitching line when you are doing a different quilting design on the borders. I'm a longarm newbie and have only done a few pantographs, quilting off the edge of the top. I notice that, even though I mark the edges of my quilt top before I begin quilting the design, there's a bit of a shift that happens as the quilting stitches go in and those outer edges draw in slightly as I quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  20. great quilting--it turned out perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a beautiful quilt and the panto design used in the center looks perfect for it! I have washed king size quilts in my wash machine on gentle and bulky. I'm not sure if yours if bigger, if so take it to a laundromat! They are going to love this!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gorgeous quilt. The backing is adorable. The newly-weds will be over the moon. This will be loved and cherished for a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  23. That wedding quilt is stunning! I really like the design - I can see why they chose it! And the quilting couldn't be more perfect. It will be a treasure!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Do you remember the name of the backing fabric? I love it!!

    ReplyDelete

I always love to hear your thoughts!

Remembering All The Little Things

I have let my blog side away in lieu of posting photos and updates over on Instagram. For me, it takes less time, and is a faster way to doc...