A Wedding Quilt

We had an incredibly great weekend as we added a new member to our family. My nephew Will married his sweetheart Kristi in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on Saturday afternoon. We had perfect weather conditions at Rocky Fork Lake's Chapel in the Woods. Later, the reception was held in the barn at my sister and brother-in-law's farm. The food, the dancing, the fellowship - everything! - was so perfect. How is it possible to smile and laugh and love so much?! I grabbed this picture of the new Mr. and Mrs. from my sister's Facebook page. Aren't they adorable!!?

So with the wedding dispensed, I can now reveal the quilt I made for the newlyweds and some of you may recognize that quilt from the retreat last April at Canter's Cave.

 The pattern is called Blue Lagoon (details in this post) and is jelly roll-friendly. I had a Minick and Simpson jelly roll along with a neutral background and finished the top at retreat. I added borders which were not part of the quilt instructions, because I wanted a larger quilt. Click here to read about the retreat sewing.

I quilted this quilt on my friend Terry's longarm machine about three weeks ago. (Read about it here.) I don't recommend closely inspecting the workmanship, but if you do, please be kind. It is entirely freehand loopy meander quilting and I was totally winging it. Rookie effort, you know?

The backing gave me a bit of a challenge. I knew I would have to piece it, and I put together a backing I thought I could live with, but at the last minute I changed my mind. I took out one whole section and added the lighter blue print shown above. I was much more satisfied with it.  I also used that lighter blue as the binding.

Early in August, I gave the bride a preview of her wedding gift, when my bridal shower gift was pillows and pillow cases made to match the quilt; not exact matching, but close enough.

I have been missing from the blog for several days. I am guessing that as I move on into the meat of the semester, this will be normal. I will do my darnedest to stay caught up with both school work and quilting and blogging.

One more pic from the wedding - my siblings and I teamed up for a fun picture at the reception. Tell me, is there some familial resemblance here or what?!? The groom's mother is in front. We may have had a good time. *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!