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!

Blue Lagoon

Quilt retreat last week gave me the perfect opportunity to start a jelly roll quilt that's been on my list for several months. Blue Lagoon is a pattern in a book called Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam Lintott and Nicky Lintott.

I used a Minick and Simpson jelly roll (New Lexington, I think it's called; please correct me if wrong!) and a neutral that paired nicely with it. The construction was super simple and I nearly had the whole top stitched while at retreat.

The pattern in the book does not call for an outer border, however I have so much fabric in the stash, and this just seemed like a simple way to make use of it and get a larger quilt, too. The border fabric has been in the stash for years.

The strips were paired up and then matched with another pair, then cut into 2.5" units to make 4-patches. So easy - no thinking required. Stitch a 2.5" x 4.5" strip of neutral between them and you have the makings of rows. Sashing rows are even simpler - 2.5" squares and 4.5" strips.

Gracie approves, even though she has her disapproving face on. I think she was annoyed that I disturbed her nap to take the pictures.

Next up for me is to add borders to my 9-patch exchange quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Canter's Cave Quilt Retreat

Last week was a wonderful week of quilting and fellowship at Canter's Cave. Some gals stayed Monday through Friday, but I could only make it Tuesday through Thursday. Regardless of the length of the stay, the sewing was fruitful and the camaraderie was outstanding.

I will simply show the pictures I took, and give a bit of info of pattern and maker. I know I didn't take pictures of everything made. I think I am getting worse about recording details for blogging purposes! Oh well, what follows will give you a decent overview of our activity.

Sheryll finished off this quilt just as I was arriving on Tuesday. The black background makes the jewel tones of the chains really pop.

Terry worked on many mini quilts. (Say that 10 times real fast!) The one above features single chains across the quilt. She cranked out several more, but no pictures of those!

Jan came to camp with the appliqued center of this quilt finished, as well as a good portion of the pieced border blocks. The main push was finishing the top construction. This is an absolutely stunning quilt, and if she can get it quilted in time, the plan is to enter it in her guild's quilt show later this summer.

A special guest at camp this year was Anita, the camp director. She shared this barn quilt with us. The panels are all farm and country scenes, and the sashing fabrics are a great combination of Kansas Troubles fabrics.

Quilters I did not represent here were Helen, Becky and Susan. I do apologize, ladies, for ignoring you with my camera.

I worked on finishing my 9-patch quilt using the blocks that we exchanged a couple of weeks ago. I had half a quilt already done, and when I got the exchange blocks, I was able to move forward to the finish. I did find that I needed more background fabric, so if you look closely you will see a different background in that bottom row. Not an exact match, for sure, but with a scrappy quilt, I didn't figure it made too much difference. I hadn't thought I would add a border, but I am currently considering it.

After finishing her Nutcracker quilt, Jan went to work on her exchange quilt. While mine is set with a print setting block, Jan opted for an "X" block which gives the 9-patches an entirely different look. It will be fun to see how all the other girls finish their quilts.

After finishing my 9-patch quilt, I pulled out Blue Lagoon, a jelly roll quilt I planned on making last fall. I knew it would go together fast - totally doable at quilt camp. My jelly roll is a Minick and Simpson from several years ago - Lexington, maybe?

Most of the rows are sewn together in this picture. All the rows are made and I finished attaching all on Friday here at home. It is now waiting on borders. I will post pictures when those are attached.

Quilt camp is always tons of fun. Of course, this year will be memorable as I took ownership of my Featherweight (see previous post). Several of the regulars were unable to attend, or could only attend briefly. Maybe next April will be better for everyone.

Happy Quilting, Friends!