Wedding Hearts Quilt

My client, Ingrid, brought this great piece to me for quilting, and it came with a great story. Apparently she was recently helping her friend Jacqueline move to a new home. They were packing up Jacqueline's basement, and Ingrid noticed lots of quilting supplies, and she couldn't believe she never knew they shared this hobby. Well, they got to talking and decided that they would work together to make a quilt for a mutual friend who was soon to be married.

Of course, time was on the short side, so they got together one evening, armed with wine and friendship, and worked all night long to piece the quilt top. They didn't really have a pattern, but more of a vision. So they just started sketching and cutting and sewing and ironing. And by the morning's light, the top was pieced! Then the quilt came to me, and I was happy to do my part on the fly, to make this thoughtful gift complete.

To really appreciate this piece, you should know some of the background behind the quilt's design and the couple it was made for. Ingrid and Jacqueline's friend has children from a previous relationship, as does her fiance. So the gals pieced two interlocking hearts into the center of this piece - signifying the two families that were coming together as one. And in the surrounding area, they placed five smaller swatches of feature fabric for each of the children in this blended family. Isn't that lovely?

For the quilting, I outlined the main hearts, and then quilted densely around them, without actually quilting on them directly. It made the wool batting underneath the hearts stay fluffy and puff out. Then I gradually quilted less and less densely, radiating outward from the big hearts, with a meandering quilt path of hearts and wedding rings. Then in the blue border, I quilted a rope motif, as in "tying the knot". And to finish off the quilting, interlocking hearts in the white outer border.

And the real finisher was the binding that I attached to the front AND back of the quilt, using the new tool that I recently purchased. So when Ingrid picked up the quilt, it was ready to wrap and give to the new couple. If you are rushed for time, or if you're one of the many quilters that simply doesn't enjoy binding your quilts, ask me about my new quilt binder tool. You just bring me yardage fabric for the binding, and I take care of the rest!

Here are some photos that Ingrid shared with, from the time she and Jacqueline spent piecing this quilt together. I think I wanna quilt with them - they look like a fun duo!