Wedding Gift

I decided to make a quilt for my son and daughter-in-law as a wedding gift. Both of them happen to be graphic designers/art directors, so it turned out to be a daunting task.

Under the circumstances, I thought it would be best to allow them some input concerning fabric selection and pattern. My son deferred to his bride. She chose fabrics with subtle prints in a monochromatic palette.

They wanted something more contemporary and "random" than what I usually do. After much obsessing contemplation I decided on a design that is roughly based on the log cabin pattern. Although it looks fairly random, I achieved it through a rather systematic process.

Given the way my mind works, the project was quite a challenge. I'm sure it was beneficial for me to think outside my proverbial box.

The photo isn't that great - I enlisted a couple of family members to hold it up. They weren't tall enough to keep it from bunching up on the floor, so the front edge is on the sofa. There must be a clever way to display such a large quilt for a complete photo, but I didn't come up with one. I suppose if we used a ladder we could have hung up on the outside of the house.

The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted with the Baptist fan pattern. I've always done my quilting by hand, but after the many hours of working on a project this size - I don't even want to know how many - I am now willing to give machine quilting a try.

Machine quilting is now an option because I got a new sewing machine during the project. My 33 year old entry-level Singer was having "issues." Rather than have it serviced, DH decided it was time for an upgrade, even though as he often jokingly (I hope) reminds me "you haven't been very nice to me lately."

I'm so in love with my new machine. It doesn't have all the latest bells and whistles, but it has so many more than my previous machine, I'll probably never use even half of them.

I hope to have some new projects to post before another year goes by - that's how long this project took!