Sunday, June 16, 2019

Simply Serene Wedding Quilt




There is nothing more joyful than making a quilt for a loved one — or two special loved ones in the case of newlyweds. My sweet nephew, Frank, and his beautiful bride, Megan, were married recently in Minnesota in a wonderful riverside ceremony.



I spotted this amazing quilt pattern last October by Diana Beaubien of Pleasant Valley Creations and had to have it — isn’t Simply Serene gorgeous and fun? Went fabric shopping on New Year’s Day at a great nearby shop, Modern Quilting  The couple’s colors are teal, gray and black, which I knew would be stunning for this pattern. 









I started out intending to make the queen size but modified the pattern to a square with a single border. This was my first diagonal layout and it was pretty exciting watching it come together. The blocks covered the area rug in our living room.






I’m a very slow and somewhat random quilter — started cutting on April 2nd and finished binding June 2nd, one week before the wedding. At 86” square, this is the largest quilt I’ve made and it was challenging quilting it. There was quilt hanging over my shoulder, the table to my left and the ironing board behind my machine. I decided on all straight line quilting with my walking foot. And you’ll notice a mistake in the lower right corner of the next picture which, thankfully, I caught before quilting. Had two blocks turned the wrong direction but I was able to unpick and resew them without taking the entire thing apart.

Another “funny” thing happened as I was preparing the quilt sandwich for pin basting. All the layers were ironed and steamed, flat and wrinkle free. I had taped the backing down to the foyer floor, which is my favorite area for this. The cotton batting was carefully adjusted over the backing and the quilt top was centered and smoothed over the batting. On a large quilt, this takes me a while, crawling carefully around and over it all until I’m satisfied that it can’t get any more perfect. This includes knees creaking and back popping, some sweating and cussing. Finally nailed it, got up and went to the kitchen ... and the doorbell rang. Our two darling Yorkies, Louie and Miles (or Milesyoulittlebastard as he is affectionately known in our neighborhood) did their jobs and headed to the front door, barking to alert me to a delivery, running in circles and completely spoiling that beautiful quilt sandwich. *sigh* Had to start over the next day but got it all pin basted and ready for quilting.






The embroidered label had to include a reference to their love of hunting. It goes nicely with the engagement ornament I had made for them. And that is what he said to her before proposing during a hunting trip!









After finishing up the quilting, there was quite a bit of lint visible on the black fabrics so our granddaughter, 2-year-old Abby, helped by going over it with the lint roller. I always wash quilts before gifting them for two reasons. First, I do not prewash quilting fabrics. I love that they shrink up a little and get all soft and crinkly after washing. Second, I always use Color Catchers in cold water to make sure that I get any dyes before they absorb into the light colors on the quilt. I used three of them this time and they were very dark gray from all the black fabric. The quilt came out perfect with no bleeding onto the white and light fabrics.



Hopefully, this quilt will keep them feeling warm and cozy throughout those chilly Minnesota winters. Aunt Janie loves you two!





21 comments:

  1. I am looking at this quilt pattern also. Yours is beautiful. Love your colors

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  2. I'm just starting this quilt using darker purples and shades of darker aqua. I tried to use a very dark plum and s very light aqua for the background, didn't really work as beautifully as the black and white. So off to the fabric store tmrw for some b&w fabric. Just a word to the wise, stick with the original black and white background. Lol. Happy quilting. Jamie

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  3. That is gorgeous!!

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  4. I made this quilt several years ago for my dear friend’s daughter’s 16th sweetheart birthday. She absolutely loved it.

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  5. Your quilt is perfect. I am doing one of these in deep navy and white for the vertical. I am trying to find the right charm packs for the rest.

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  6. This quilt is stunning. V Wambolt. N.S. Canada.



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  7. Love the colors beautiful quilt

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  8. Does it matter a great deal of the placement of the colored squares?

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    1. I just did my best to spread the colors out so they weren’t clumped together. I did lay the entire quilt top out and move blocks around a bit before sewing together.

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  9. This is such a stunning quilt, and the color choice is beautiful, thank you for sharing!

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  10. Beautiful quilt and colors...teal always draws me in.

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  11. Love this quilt. It’s stunning! Lucky couple.

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  12. You did a wonderful job on the quilt!!!

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  13. I’m saving this for later. Such a beautiful job. Thank you for sharing

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  14. No disrespect to the pattern designer, but your quilt is absolutely stunning with the teal squares! I wouldn't look twice at it just based on the cover photo, but your layout is a show stopper! Nice work. And I can't find the error in the one photo you posted...

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  15. Other than the black and white HST, is there any pattern in the placement of the other squares? This is so beautiful!

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    1. No, just random squares rearranged until they made me happy❣️

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