Wedding Guestbook Quilt: Revealed

I received word last night that the Wedding Guestbook quilt (finally) reached the bride and groom, which means I can now share with the world, or at least the world wide web. I say (finally) because this wedding present from the Bridesmaids was "slightly" delayed - the happy couple married in June 2010.   

Instead of a traditional paper guestbook, the bride and groom wished to have a quilt created for them instead. I was tasked with how to make this happen. The wedding guests were given the choice of three slightly different shades of blue fabric and a Sharpie (rub-a-dub) marker.

Once the bridesmaids returned from the wedding with the signed squares, the project was fully turned over to me to make something special for the bride and groom. No pressure, right?

I decided to keep with the blue theme - as that was one of their main "colors" of the wedding. I also chose three special pictures of the bride and groom and three pictures of the bride with her 'maids to print on printable fabric which I then incorporated into the overall design of the quilt.   

Each message square was bordered with a fabric to tie all shades of blue together and to act as a frame so each message would stand out as "special." I also framed each picture with a thicker fabric border.  I chose a staggered layout of my own creation and handquilted a swirly meandering stitch pattern in the dark blue border fabric.  The entire quilt was also framed and I accented the frame by machine quilting in the border.

All told, the entire process (though lengthy and full of decision after decision for this option-girl) ended well and I even received the following feedback from the happy couple:

"Your work is amazing . . . We love your quilt and will cherish it always!" 

 To see all photos of this special quilt, please visit the photogallery.

"Let's Start At The Very Beginning..."

Although I am currently working on a few different projects simultaneously, I realized I haven't been able to share my works in progress as they are actually in progress (with a few exceptions).

To play, I've started working on a project that doesn't currently have a home.  I don't know what size it will be when finished and I'm not making it with anyone in mind.  As I said, I'm playing.

Inspired by this tutorial from Quilting In The Rain, I started by using a charm pack of BasicGrey's Hello Luscious line for Moda.

Step 1: Planning

Step 2: Two finished squares

Step 3: Making Progress

Please stay tuned for future updates on my "play" project!

Finished!

And it feels so good!!

The wedding guest book quilt is (finally) complete and should be on its way to the bride and groom soon! I can't wait to post pictures for you all to see. I am not at all biased, but I think the finished quilt looks fantastic!

Since I can't share those today, here's another finished project instead:

Sneak Peek

A work in progress!

Secret Project: Revealed!

I can finally share one of my "secret projects" because it has been shipped and received!

A bit of back story:

College friends Hill and Jon got married in July of 2011.  Hill is the one who taught me quilting basics in the summer of 2004.  She is super crafty.  For their wedding, she made different sets of napkins for each table.  The escort cards then had a swatch of fabric so that you knew what table you were assigned. (Like this idea from MS Weddings)

At the wedding, it was agreed upon by my fellow tablemates that we would take a napkin from each table and I would create something quilted for the bride and groom as a surprise.

Fast forward six months or so - I have completed their present!

My thought process was as follows.  They will have leftover napkins from the wedding. I wanted to make something they could use with said napkins.  I started by creating two coasters from each fabric.

After that, I had to figure out how to make 24 completely different fabrics look like they belonged together in one composition.  Thank goodness for the internet! 

I found inspiration and utilized this tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman and modified it for my purpose.  Instead of making different quilt squares, I chose to make one long table runner -- to go with my napkins and coaster theme. 

 Hooray for completed projects!

To see more pictures of the runner/coasters, please visit the photo gallery: