Saturday, December 29, 2012

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG

Shortly after I apparently fell into a giant black hole in July, the event I'd been waiting for finally arrived in mid-August. My niece and new nephew-in-law got married in a beautiful ceremony at a winery in Northern California. (Congrats from your Aunt Consuela, kids.) That means I can now reveal the (as yet unfinished) quilt I was working on all summer. (Read more about the quilt design here.)


Their wedding colors were red and yellow (roses and sunflowers), so I opted to go with black and white fabrics for the front, as well as a few fabrics with dashes of red or yellow, or in some cases, both red and yellow. 


For the back, I selected a total of six floral fabrics (sunflower-esque), three in red with black and white, and three in yellow with black and white. (I must say, it's easier to find red fabrics than yellow these days.)

 



I also found two cute fabrics (one red and one yellow) to use for the sashing on each block.  I chose to go with solid black for the sashing between blocks, because I really didn't need any more pattern going on with all the prints in the blocks. (Thanks to my City Quilter classmates for assisting with sashing fabric selection.)
As anticipated, I did not finish the quilt in time for the wedding (in fact, I'm still working on it), so I took two of the extra back squares and assembled two blocks as pot holders (also known as hot pads in my family). I'd never made them before, but I bought some Insul-Bright and found it surprisingly easy to work with. I did have to pin the blocks together while I was sewing the strips, because the batting and Insul-Bright together moved around quite a bit more than just the batting on its own.

















I brought the finished portion of the quilt to the wedding to show the happy couple (no, not at the ceremony; at the brunch the next day). It was only 1/5 the length it will be when it's done, but I was pleased with how it looked and it gave them a good idea of what the pattern will be. The happy couple was pleased with what they saw, and they're unexpectedly happy to have hot pads that match their bedroom decor.


I have to admit that I've taken to working on it more sporadically, since I find my eyes need a break from black and white and red an yellow. I will finish it before their first anniversary, of that I'm sure.