My Godson Nate fell in love with the girl of his dreams and I could not have been more thrilled! Of course I was going to make them a wedding quilt!… for my Godson…. and I became very nervous, it had to be some kind of amazing.
I was transitioning in my thoughts as a quilter on my wedding quilts- I wanted it to be incredibly beautiful but something useable. Quilting to me is kind of like puzzles, you start out with small and easy and each time you start a new one you step it up to challenge yourself. To me I was having trouble finding ones that I wanted to do after doing well over 100 quilts. I visited one of my favorite shops -Millie P’s in Anoka, MN, one of the sweetest gals there thought that this pattern would fit the bill. Gypsy Wife….it was interesting for sure.
Different then what I’d been doing, I just needed to give it my interpretation to make it the special quilt I needed it to be. Usually I ask the Bride and Groom what colors they’d like, instead I asked for a few of their most favorite pictures together. In the meanwhile, the excitement of their wedding festivities were beginning, starting with them asking me to shoot their “Save the date” photo : )
The wedding was booked for April 16th,2016 at the Moon Plaza Resort in beautiful Cancun, Mexico!
Picking the fabrics colors out was so much fun, I just knew what I wanted for them! It needed to have a little color for Nate and and a little color for Jolene and a dash of fun for Jolene’s two beautiful little girls! I was going for a shabby chic vintage look.
The instructions can be a little overwhelming for some quilters starting out, so I took as many pics as I could to try to help you with the thought process. There are 60 strips across making up this gorgeous quilt. My stash of fabrics are mainly Batiks(about 98%)… so I pulled a little over 60 colors and started cutting 1 1/2” strips (twice actually , I loved the colors so much I knew immediately I would most definitely be making one for myself). Aren’t the colors beautiful?!!! This quilt was started on my birthday December 1st,2015. I knew right away it was going to be a highly addictive quilt and exactly what I wanted to do on my special day <3 Also, I was anxiously awaiting my new baby Persians and this was a great diversion!
I sorted the strips, put them in a pleasing order, hung up my fabrics on my clothesline and made the first block. This quilt is constructed in sections. Keep your book nearby at all times. Also I cut the future blocks out of construction paper to help me keep everything in perspective.
Then came my idea of adding Nate and Jolene’s most favorite pictures! I used a black and white photo of a darling little friend of the family so I could get a clearer picture of what I envisioned in my head.
Cut by cut, piece by piece- patience- this is fun stuff!
Finally it was time to print the first of the 11 pictures.
I edited them in black and white and lightened them a smidge more than usual for printing purposes. I cut out tiny pieces of construction paper and placed it on the book cover to help me for placement. Getting exciting isn’t it?!!!
Now I could go for it! I felt my colors were good, my placement was balanced and now I needed to pull about 12 more new fabrics to give it what I needed.
Finally!! December 9th was here and so was 2 precious crates at the airport! Max and Sadie for me and Gabby and Lu Lu for my Allie! How in the world was I going to be able to concentrate with two new babies in the house?!! What I noticed immediately was that Max was infatuated with the quilt- what? I had a quilting buddy?!!!
After spending hours on my knees setting up the lower strips Max thought it was cool to show Sadie how to take his paw and slide them down…. little (adorable) stinkers!
It’s progressing nicely, Christmas was drawing near… we didn’t need to stop quilting for that did we?!
So, just flying through this quilt I was stuck only on one spot, it was a block that had a similar one nearby and it bugged me. So, after two days I finally realized that maybe it wasn’t a block I was supposed to put there, then I knew to put a saying there instead. I found this most perfect saying, added a couple side strips to the left to make up the difference in size.
Funny thing, the day after I sent it off to my quilter I received an email informing me that the artist didn’t have permission from the author who made up the quote and anything made with said design needed to be destroyed. You should have seen my face lol- wasn’t happening! It’s unfortunate because it was a beautiful design. Needless to say I appreciate the Author Renee Baker as well as my favorite Silhouette artist Kolette Hall, maybe they can start again and let the world enjoy that beautiful design. Hint hint.
Now as much as I love mitered corners, it does take patience. Period. I got lucky this time-
I love this picture- this was Max’s first quilt with me, my heart was quickly repairing from the loss of my Mocha and Truffles and I had a little kitty boy with a love for quilting! He looked proud-
The back was prepped and the binding was ready.
It was done and sent off to my incredible quilter Norma Riehm- no worries here, just pure excitement! It was finished in just 31 days.
In the meanwhile, there was a lot to do from the hand-made invitations for the wedding shower along with some delicious food to be made and a few bachelorette accessories.
I received the gorgeous quilt a day before the wedding giving me time to shear it down and get the first part of the binding done.
We were off to Cancun!! We were there several days before the wedding and had an incredible time with Nate, Jolene and the girls! The wedding was so beautiful and such a good time had by all! It was truly so special to get a picture for my Mom of all 9 of her beautiful Grandchildren <3
Then it was back to Minnesota and finishing the quilt- I noticed this is the part Miss Sadie likes…
Beautiful job as always Norma!
Back plate finished, cleaned up and pictures taken, it was ready to go!
Nater’s and Jolene, ,we love you so very very much and we all wish you a lifetime of love, happiness and an abundance of God’s blessings! love, your proud God Mama
