Quilts for Weddings and Babies..

A long time ago, before we were even dating, my husband and I moved into a share house with another one of our really good friends, Bryden. He has been friends with both of us, independently, for a long time (I met the boys when I was 15) but I generally think of him as my husband's best friend (although sometimes I refer to him as "our" best friend). Bryden has been like a brother to us over the years, with both of our families considering him part of the family too. He was there in the waiting room when we had baby #1, and before he met Carley, I spent many a night making sure he ate "real food" (because an iced coffee and a Mars bar is not really my idea of an acceptable daily meal!).

After dating a number of ladies that weren't quite the right fit, he met the lovely Carley. It wasn't long before they moved in together, and over the next 5 years they adopted a lorikeet and an eclectus parrot, bought a house, adopted another lorikeet and finally got engaged at our wedding. (Naturally Bryden was our Best Man.. and with our blessing he surprised Carley with a proposal at the end of his speech!) For their wedding present I decided to make them a quilt, and I asked Carley to choose some fabric that she liked. Being a girl after my own heart, she fell in love with Kate Spain's Cuzco line (it's those peacocks!) and chose the Hidden Stars pattern from my copy of Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott. 

The completed quilt top, ready to baste.

 Carley's favourite colour is orange, and I found the perfect homespun at my local Spotlight store in their Organic Cottons section. There's nothing shy or quiet about this quilt!

I decided to emphasise the stars by hand quilting (also my first time hand quilting..) them using a variegated 12wt Aurifil thread #4648. I also machine quilted in a large cross hatch between the stars using 28wt Aurifil #2150 on the front, and 50wt Aurifil #2130 on the back. The stitching is virtually invisible, but you can see the outline on the back.

 The quilt in backed with a smooth lemon yellow minkee with white spots. It's super snuggly and warm. I did learn a few things about working with minkee though.. 1. Pin basting didn't work for me. I had to unpick all of the quilting I'd done (and I thought I was nearly finished the machine quilting part too.. I was devastated!). 2. Spray basting plus pin basting works a treat.. that sucker didn't move or pucker or pleat again!

I bound the quilt with the same orange homespun, and machine bound it using Aurifil 50wt #1133. I machine embroidered a label and then hand stitched it to the back of the quilt using the 12wt variegated thread. I them popped it in the wash with a couple of colour catchers just to make sure the colours didn't run, and it was good to go!

If you look closely you can see the stars on the back

Ready for wrapping!

The bride and groom

The wedding was beautiful. Bryden's mum was the celebrant who officiated the wedding, and it was held in her gorgeous garden. The weather was perfect for the ceremony, although it rained all through the reception! Thank goodness for portable gazebos and carports! I'm very pleased to say that they were thrilled with their quilt, and took it on their honeymoon with them. I hope it brings them many years of warmth and comfort.

I was also asked by one of my good friends, Linda to make a baby quilt for a friend of hers who was expecting her first baby. Linda is very crafty, but has never jumped into the quilting pool (yet!). I happened to have a charm pack of Deb Strain's "Meadow Friends" that was perfect for whipping up a quick baby quilt. We kept it simple with white sashing and binding. I backed it with a Denyse Schmidt print I had in my stash, and then straight line quilted it 1/4" out from the charm squares.

It was very well received at the baby shower, and I've since received photos of the beautiful baby enjoying her first sleep at home, wrapped in the quilt. It warms my heart to see these quilts being put to good use :) I'm also ready and waiting for my husband to gift the blue and white quilt from my previous post (well, 2 posts ago) to his friend, and then my quilty heart will be full of joy ;) I think those will be my 3 final 2012 quilt finishes, but I've got a couple more lined up for early 2013 :)