March finishes party – A lovely year of finishes

Ta dah! It's finally time for the big reveal – so here it is – the wedding quilt! I'm so glad to have finished this one you wouldn't believe. I sewed the last stitch on the binding half an hour before the ceremony started – eek! I'm really very happy with how it turned out though, and thankfully so were the recipients!

There were so many little hiccups at the end of this quilt. I just assumed I'd be able to find the right blue for the borders locally, and then when I couldn't, and had to order it from OS, I missed my window with my usual quilter. It was then I decided to quilt it myself. I'm still not sure if that was a great idea, it's very far from perfect and I'd never quilted a quilt this size before. I can't say I'm rushing to do another one!

For those who haven't heard the story, Jude is a long-time friend of mine, who, after watching me make various quilts for soon-to-be-wed family members asked me "how do I manage to get one of these?" Always on the lookout for a new project, I said I'd start collecting fabrics for her for various birthdays and Christmases and then make it over the next few of years. Not long after that, Jude finally met Mr Right, so with a wedding in sight I decided it was high time I finished the quilt.

Thankfully Jude's favourite colours are these blue, aqua and whites, so it wasn't too feminine and still appropriate as a gift for the couple. The patterned fabrics are the gorgeous Gypsy Bandana range from Pillow and Maxfield, in the Gypsy Moon colourway. I loved the range so much I also bought it in Gypsy Jewel, but I really can't look at that right now! As to the pattern, I always struggle to find good patterns for fabrics with large repeats, so I ended up creating one myself. I may get around to writing it up and posting it here one day...

The wedding weekend itself was lovely. Some other friends and I rented a house right along the beach from the wedding. It was stunning and so nice to to have made a weekend of it. The quilt pictures above are taken in the house and it was just the perfect setting to show it off don't you think?

As you can see, the weather was wonderful, the bride looked lovely and the day went off without a hitch. So last, but not least, here's a pic of the bride after she's just unwrapped the quilt. Smiles all round – happy, happy, joy, joy!