Off the Grid: A Wedding Quilt

Off the Grid (2011)

T's sister Kari got married over Labor Day weekend.  Due to scheduling issues, we were not able to be there for the wedding, but flew out for a few days last week.

I brought Kari and Heath's wedding quilt with me on the plane and finished the last bit of the binding as we touched down in Montana!

I wanted to make a quilt large enough for them to share while watching TV on the couch--it ended up finishing at about 70" square.  This is the largest quilt I've made to date.  I wasn't quilt sure how I would get it through my little machine, but it worked!

I used a layer cake of Curio by BasicGrey for Moda, Kona Coal, and the binding is Cross Town in Mist from Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda.  Fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics.

I started out using KarrieLynne's "Boxed In Quilt" pattern, featured in the Moda Bake Shop here. 

I added sashing between the larger squares, and also made a couple of the squares out of the same fabric as the background fabric.  Once I pieced the squares, however, the top didn't feel finished yet.  Perhaps it was the way KarrieLynne's quilt was staged on an angle, but I kept seeing the design set on point instead of squared up.  I also remembered seeing this one by Ashley at Film in the Fridge:

In order to set it on point, I knew I needed a lot more background fabric.  I added a whole lot of Kona coal on two sides and ended up with this:

  
To give me an idea of what it would look like on point before I started cutting, I folded the corners under until it approximated the effect I was looking for.

From there, I used chalk, a tape measure and my ruler to mark off the portions I needed to cut off.  (Not gonna lie--this part made me nervous!) I then reattached the cut-off sections elsewhere to reach the final layout.  I quilted it in straight lines in a grid pattern outlining the squares, continuing the same lines onto the gray. I think it looks like the patterned squares "fell out" of the quilted areas on the solid gray.







On the back I stacked the squares cut from the middles of the large squares on the front.







Congratulations Kari and Heath!

Solids Swap -- finished!

For the Love of Solids Swap: It's in the mail and on it's way to you, partner.  I hope you enjoy it, because I sure had a lot of fun sewing for you! Big thanks to Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy and Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations for organizing. They did a fabulous job!

This was my first swap and I had a lot of fun, especially seeing all of the different ideas everyone came up with.  Check out the flickr pool here.  I chose to sew a mini quilt, which turned out a bit larger than I had planned.  Hopefully that's OK with my partner.  I forgot to take final measurements but I think it's about 30"x32".  I used various Kona Solids, some Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen, and a bit of Essex Linen, all from my friend Brenda's shop.

I brought it with me out to Montana this last week to get some glamour shots. Thanks for the photos, T!  Love that late afternoon summer sun.

Here's the front:


A close up of the piecing and quilting:


 And the back:


I'm waiting to show the small item I made until my partner has received it; don't want to give everything away! This was a lot of fun and I hope my partner enjoys the items as much as I enjoyed making them.

~Anna