Wedding Wishes Signature Quilt

When our niece asked me how to make a signature quilt to use at her wedding, instead of a guest book, I knew I now had the perfect gift for her wedding.
 

Wedding Wishes 2013
56" x 64" 
 

Jennifer gave me her colors so I selected fabrics from my stash for the blocks.  Having the perfect Jinny Beyer border print in the closet was a lucky find.  She asked for a snuggle-size, not bed-size, quilt so this layout worked well.

Here is a quick tutorial if you want to make a signature quilt for an event:  showers, reunions, birthdays, farewell parties, etc.:



  White squares cut 3.5", color squares cut 4", then cut in half.



 After sewing on 2 opposing triangles, press away from center, and trim even with the white square. 



Sew on the 2 remaining color triangles, press away from center.

Finished block before trimming.

To make it easier to sign, I cut 3" squares of freezer paper for each block.

  Using a dry iron, press the freezer paper to the wrong side of the block, shiny side down.

 I found the Pigma Micron pen .05 worked well for signing, the Sharpie not so much.  Each person selected the block they wanted to sign from the stack I took to the wedding.  They were asked to sign as above, with the writing going across the square--some signed with the writing diagonally so their writing is sideways in the quilt--oh, well!

Once home from the wedding, I trimmed each block to 5".  This was easy to do with a square ruler and it allowed the blocks to "float" in the sashing, no need to have the points touch the sashing precisely.  I needed  the project to be quick,  but not sloppy.

 

 

 Here I am playing with the layout, trying to move the various colors around.  I placed the parents' blocks in the middle.  Everyone else went where their color decided they were going.  I received 40 blocks at the wedding and added 10 more for the set to work.  The sashing and cornerstones were cut 1.5".  The green perimeter triangles were cut from 8" squares, cut twice on the diagonals.  The green corner triangles were cut from 4.25" squares, cut once on the diagonal.  This was slightly oversized, and it allowed me to trim the edges square before adding the border print.

 

The border print was so perfect, I did not add any additional borders beyond  the quilt center.  The quilting was very  simple:  down the middle of the sashing strips, in both directions.  While it could have used more quilting, this was enough for the purpose of the quilt.

 

The bride and groom received the quilt yesterday and were very pleased with it.  They can now enjoy the well wishes of friends and family as they snuggle on the couch. 

 

Now I can move on to a few more projects that have deadlines--let's quilt!

 

Barbara

 

Studio Tour

Saturday my guild did a fund-raiser: an open house/studio tour.  The cost was $10 and there were 6 homes/gardens on the tour from noon-4.  Lessons learned:  fewer homes, another hour.  I had about 30 people here, of the 60 who paid to attend.  As the homes were all over the county, it was very difficult to make it to all 6 homes--one car-full did it!  And we had lots of rain the night before and all that morning--so the gardens at each home were not toured. 

I thought you might enjoy photos of my studio--it took some doing to get things looking this neat and tidy.  The closets were a big hit--18' x 9' tall, 4 rows of shelving, 3 lights.  What I really need to do is empty everything out of there and restock--I'm sure there are things in there I've "lost" that I really need to find.  But I'm just not up to that yet.  Here you go: 

 

It's 21' X 24' and it's all mine. Four sets of fluorescent lights, 2 sets of floor outlets for the sewing machine and iron station.  South and West facing windows--lots of natural light. 

Stuff accumulates to fill the space available--I really do need to empty those closets.  Several guests offered to come "shopping" when I do it.  The last time I had a sale for guild members  I was happy with the results and the shoppers were happy with their purchases.  Might have to have another sale later this year. 

Glad you could stop by--come back any time!

Let's Quilt!

Barbara