This week I finished my Harmony quilt. I will finally be able to send it off to my nephew and his wife as their wedding gift. Doesn’t some rule of etiquette say you can give a wedding present within the first year and it is still ‘proper’? According to this post on Manners Monday of the Huffington Post, I am still within the time frame. Though really, who would refuse a wedding gift because it was late? At least I am finally giving it to them!!
You might remember I made the quilt top a long time ago. I used a fat eighth set of Millie Fleur by BariJ for the centers and Moda solids, Fig Tree Cream and Stone. The pattern is one that alternates hourglass blocks and economy blocks, each of which finished at 9 1/2″. I love the look of this pattern and feel proud to have drawn it myself and figured it out without a pattern (I don’t do that too often.)
I wanted to quilt it on a long arm because there is lots of cool negative space and it would have been fun to play with it. However, that just never worked out and in the interest of time and wanting to complete this quilt, I opted to quilt it at home. It is fairly large at 74″ square so I decided against free motion quilting and settled for straight line with my walking foot. I did a diagonal line across the middle. For one side I did vertical lines all the way out and on the other side I quilted horizontal lines. I like the effect.
My favorite part of the quilt is the bottom border where I relief quilted their last name and the words EST. 2016. It is a sweet reminder of when they married and established their family of two (plus a couple of dogs!!) As with my other relief quilting projects, I fused stabilizer to the back of the border strip (before it was attached to the quilt) Once the letters were traced on to the border, I used my darning foot and created the design by free motion quilting around the shapes of the letters and numbers. After attaching the border strip and quilting the body of the quilt, I took the darning foot and FMQ’d the outline of each letter and number to quilt that section of the border and make the letters stand out and puff up a bit.
On the corners I used a four patch block as a cornerstone. On each of these I quilted a little flower. The borders were free motion quilted with a pattern of loops, alternating small and large ones.
To finish it off, I made a scrappy binding! I am such a fan of scrappy bindings. Luckily, I had just enough of the Millie Fleur fabric left to make the binding.
The backing is a green, floral wide back I purchased long ago and I couldn’t honestly say what it is. I can say I love the ease of a wide back for backing. Pieced backs are very cool and give you sort of a double sided quilt but wide backs (108″ wide) provide ease of use and a speedy finish. (Plus I have a large piece of it leftover which is kind of nice!) In fact, I recently bought the first bolt of wide back, a small gray polka dot by Red Rooster and it is listed in my shop. Just in case you need some. 🙂
I can’t wait for the kids to receive their quilt. I was really sad to have missed this wedding last year. From the pictures they shared, it was just a gorgeous day for my nephew and his new wife. I am sharing a picture of them dancing at their wedding. Breathtaking, aren’t they? I hope they love the quilt and use it happily for years to come.
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Oh Bernie, this is a wonderful quilt, and I just LOVE the relief quilting you did showing off their name and year they were married! That scrappy binding too–LOVE. What a wonderful gift, no worries in my books about it being late…I ahem have a few milestone birthday quilts that are a wee bit late…
Yes, the time gets away from us, right? At least I finished it before their first anniversary!!! Thanks for the sweet words Sandra.
What a great quilt. I too really love the relief quilting and would like to try it some time – it’s a fabulous detail.
https://needleandfoot.com/2016/08/27/relief-quilting-tutorial-thread/
Hi Gale,
Glad you liked it!! Thanks a bunch.
I have a tutorial for relief quilting if that might be of help.
Let me know if you need any help or have questions.
B.
Beautiful finish and what an amazing way to finish the bottom border with relief quilting. That is such a cool idea! I am sure they will treasure your gift.
Thank you. I actually thought of the relief quilting for the border first and the rest of the quilt came second. I really like the idea and wanted to use it for their wedding. I hope they like it. I think they will — 🙂
Beautiful work, Bernie, as usual! The wedding dance photo is so cool! And yes, in my book you are well within the proper gift giving time 🙂
Isn’t that photo amazing? Their photographer really did a wonderful job with their wedding pictures and this is definitely my favorite!!
Yes, a beautiful quilt Bernie! I’m sure the newly weds will cherish it.
Thanks Val. I hope so.
PS — I sent you a little treat today. Watch the mail for it!! 🙂
What a lovely quilt for your nephew. I’m sure they’ll love it! The relief quilting of their name and date is a great idea. Love the scrappy binding, too. And what a great picture with those trees. They’re gigantic! Surely that’s not your yard? That’s a real beauty shot!
Hey Mari, We do have one redwood just about this size in our yard but these two happen to be on the grounds at our fairgrounds. Julia and I spotted it and thought it a good place for a photo. So gigantic, right?
A wedding is one day–a marriage is a lifetime. Consider this beautiful quilt a marriage gift. 🙂
That is a lovely way of looking at it!! Yes, this is a marriage gift. <3
So much to love about this quilt, Bernie! (Do you mind if I copy it sometime?) The combination of the cream and stone is so restful, and using the two blocks together makes such a lovely pattern. I’m especially drawn to how the border melts into the rest of the quilt. I’m a big fan of the two-direction quilting–but the relief quilting on the border–such a sweet touch! I bet your nephew and new niece will be thrilled. (Are those redwood trees in the first picture?)
Janine, I would be honored if you copied. I thought for a while I would write up a tutorial but really, that is not my forte. Even when I bought the solid fabric for the borders and blocks I guesstimated and ended up with way too much. Not a big deal because I love both of those solids but quilty math isn’t a strength of mine!!
Thanks so much for the feedback on the quilt. I am very pleased with it.
Yes, to the redwoods. Aren’t they spectacular? We have one in our yard that I just love. These two are on the grounds at our fairgrounds. Julia and I spotted them and thought it would be a fun place for a quilt-in-the-wild sort of picture.
Love the finished product, I am sure to see it on their guest bed when we go to visit for the rodeo in July. Who wouldn’t love this beautiful quilt?
Thanks Juanita!!! If you think of it, would you take a picture with the kids and the quilt when you are there in July? I would love that. I have it in the washer now and will ship it to them tomorrow. I have this fear of a quilt bleeding or falling apart at a seam so I always wash and dry it first to inspect it!! It only happened once but a bit of the binding came loose on a quilt once and now I have to check before I send it off. 🙂
This is a beautiful pattern and a beautiful quilt! This gorgeous couple will certainly love it. And your relief quilting is just terrific–something I am very tempted to try:)
Thank you Karen!! I sure hope they will enjoy it for a long time to come.
Relief quilting is so much fun and truly not difficult. I think it gives a great effect. If you go to the top of my page and look at the tutorials tab, you will find a post on how to do this. I am happy to help if you need it!!
P.S. Wanted to check out that wide back fabric, but your link above goes to Etsy’s own website 🙁
Hi Karen,
Thank you for your note. I updated the link and it should take you right there. Use: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NeedleandFoot?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&search_query=red+rooster+wide
Or, go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/needleandfoot – when you get to my site put wide back in the search box and it should come up. Let me know if you need any help with this. 🙂
Beautiful quilt! I think there is no expiration date on finishing a wedding gift quilt (unless, of course, they intended to display it at the reception!). I finally finished the HQ on a queen-size quilt for my sister 5’years out. But, since they then actually lived in a real house instead of an apartment, where they read the Sunday papers in bed, the quilt, with a huge amount of white background, was happily put into service and never stained by newsprint. Since then, I do TRY to be a bit more timely, but…
Isn’t it the best when a quilt you give someone is truly loved and used? Even if it gets grubby. It makes me happy when the new owner really treasures and uses the quilt.
Great quilt, I love love the design you quilting on the border.
Thank you Cheryl. I am so happy to have finished this quilt after setting it aside many times. It is on the way to its new home!!
Just beautiful. I love the soft grays and off-white with those little bits of color. And of course, the lovely relief quilting makes it ultra-personal. Fabulous finish!
Thank you Mary! I love this quilt – it was a fun one to make. 🙂
Oh Bernie this is a wonderful gift and I can only imagine how much they will love snuggling under it! 🙂 Beautiful!!
I don’t know how I missed this post! It turned out beautifully, and I love the outline stitching. I know they will cherish this quilt Bernie!