Joy's Wedding Quilt

This quilt was from my lovely client, Joy. The design of the quilt top made me think that it was "paper-pieced" - a method that uses a diagram on a piece of paper, to which you stitch pieces of fabric and then rip the paper away. But Joy called it a "non-paper-pieced" pattern. No matter HOW it was achieved, I think it is beautiful. Striking design and color choices.

Joy and I gave the quilting design a lot of thought. It was tempting to go with some kind of show-stopping custom design, but in the end, we decided to go with an edge-to-edge approach. It would have been beautiful with a custom quilting treatment, but I knew for sure that it would have gotten really intricate and tight - making the finished quilt stiff and non-cuddly. And since this was made as a wedding gift for a new couple, I figured they would appreciate the tactile usability of a snuggly quilt.

Another great one, Joy!

My quilting is all free-motion, hand-guided on a longarm quilting machine.

Now for the educational portion of this post.... Joy informed me that this pattern had some tricky elements. The directions were (at best) difficult to follow or (at worst) flawed, resulting in some less-than-flat areas on this quilt top. By the time I had quilted down half-way, it became apparent that there was  excess fabric in the sides of this quilt. See the arrows below, pointing to the excess fabric that I pinched up.

In the spirit of one of my favorite philosophers (Bob Marley) I said, NO WORRIES! After okaying it with Joy, I simply stitched that excess fabric down in a tuck with a straight line of stitching. See below. It worked BEAUTIFULLY with this pattern, because I was able to simply re-align the points in the center of the pattern. I honestly don't think anyone will notice. The only reason I share it here is because I want others to see... Joy is a very accomplished quilter with lots of experience and really great technique. And even though she is really talented, sometimes things don't turn out right. It happens to us ALL! Maybe the pattern was poorly written. Maybe you made a mistake when cutting. Maybe you put the project away for a while, only to return years later and forget where you left off. Maybe you were drinking wine and watching "Sleepless In Seattle", and good luck to anyone who tries to figure out WHAT you were doing (this has NEVER happened to me!). Quilting is a human art form! It's not SUPPOSED to be perfect! I'm happy to help disguise those little wonky places, work around them or tame them down as I quilt through the quilt top. The end result is stunning, and no one will be the wiser! Quilters/sewists are often most critical of themselves and their own work. Take a break on yourselves, people! See how great this quilt turned out? All's well that ends well!