I had my doubts about this one from the very beginning. The cutting called for 3/4″ pieces by 2.5″ at the longest. It wasn’t until I was sewing the bits together that I realized that each of the 24 blocks had 13 pieces; for the record that is a total of 312 pieces not counting the borders. That is a lot of pieces for a 12″ x 12.5″ project.
But this was my June project for sewing with Stacia and Deloise and I didn’t see any point in putting it off – those pieces weren’t going to get any bigger. Our schedule was for just one day of sewing together but I had to take another full day to get this done.
Now that it is done and hung it might be one of my favourite patterns from the book.
I’m not sure what possessed me to think I should make a double wedding quilt for Madison’s wedding. I’ve seen them, and loved them, but always thought they would be too hard for me. But I saw a pattern online that used paper piecing to make the arcs and I decided to do it. Little did I know that the arcs would be the “easy” part!
Everything is curved and Y-seamed so nothing was easy. I knew I wanted to use florals for the arcs and I had enough in my stash (with a few add-ins from Gail’s). I started the paper piecing at the Guild’s November retreat on Texada in 2024 and finished the arcs at their January retreat in 2025.
It was a long process getting the arcs together with their backgrounds and I used various online tutorials to get a grip on how it should be done. The best advice for the curves came from a Guild member – use the “smoosh” method.
Once the top was together quilting was my next challenge. I wanted to use flannel but there wasn’t anything in town and I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough time to order some. I was convinced to try Fireside, which I knew several of the quilters use. With all the curves in the pattern it made sense to echo the curves with the quilting. The quilt was big and it took a lot of twisting and turning.
I wanted an emerald green for the binding as Madison had mentioned that it was her favourite colour (and the colour she picked for her engagement celebration). I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted but settled on a batik. At one of my sewing sessions with Gail we talked about the colour I wanted but I didn’t see anything in her stash that was right. Right at the end of the day, when Gail was looking for something else, she showed me a fabric she had been saving (she didn’t remember for what). It was exactly what I needed – the right colour with just a bit of shimmer in it.
I was happy to have it done in plenty of time for Madison and Walid’s big day.
I was in charge of the Guild’s 2022 mystery. I picked the 2020 Summer Mystery by Carol Cameron (one of Deloise’s Seam Sisters).
I had the top finished by the year-end party in 2022. The quilt was well received and several of the Guild members started to follow and enjoyed Carol’s mysteries in the next few years. In 2025 Carol announced that she wouldn’t be hosting the summer mystery and I, along with other Guild members, understood but let her know we were sorry to see her go.
I sandwiched the quilt in May of 2022 but didn’t pull it out to start quilting until this week. The quilting is very simple and it was quick to do – why did I wait so long? Not to worry, I still have Carol’s 2020 mystery to quilt and I now have a very good idea of how I will do it.
This is the first time in ten years that I haven’t made a fish-themed card for Ray. They have taken apart their salt water aquariums and only have the eel left. I sorted through all the fish patterns I’ve saved over the years and the magazines they were in will be donated.
As I was short of time for getting the card in the mail I went with one of my mystery quilt blocks.
