Wedding Quilt Finished and Shipped

I’ve been quiet on the quilting front for two weeks!  I have put the wedding quilt in the mail, and promised myself not to post any pictures publicly until I was sure it was received.  So, as I write this, the good old US Mail will be delivering a big box.  It took me a week to get it in just the right box.  I wanted to “present” the present in a nice wedding gift bag; and I didn’t want to crush the gift bag in the boxing up.   I had tried several I had here at home; and determined  a queen size quilt will not fit in a 12x15x6 box…needed a deeper box~!~  So, my dear hubby found me just the right size box at work and brought it home!

While I waited on the box, I gave the quilt a good washing and drying, a last run through for any toe catcher threads, took some pictures and wrapped it nicely.  I included a letter to the recipients with information about laundry, the story of the quilt and a color catcher….just in case.  When I did the run through the washer, I used a color catcher, warm water and a very warm drying cycle.  I love to see a quilt crinkle up in the wash process.  I also wanted to make sure there were no problems with any seams etc.  The quilt did wash beautifully; and the color catcher “caught” a lot of green! No bleeding onto my light colors or yellow; and when I compared the quilt to a swatch of “unwashed” green – there was not any real change in the color. (Silent sigh of relief for the whole process….thinking back to my one block wonder disaster).

Well…on to the photo’s…..tried to get a few outside in the daylight; and did our best, considering the gloomy weather.  My dear hubby could not hold the width of the quilt, so I was unable to get a good full view photo.  I did manage some on our porch rail that give you at least a reasonable look of the quilt, the quilting; and the labels.

Queen size….hubby could not hold the whole width!

Pattern is “Jared takes a Wife”  by Bonnie Hunter – Quiltville.com.  Bonnie offers many free patterns on her blog.  This link takes you to the source for this pattern:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/jared-takes-wife.html

If you read through the pattern you discover that the block is often called Blackford’s Beauty, which is a Civil War era block.

“The block was named for a ford or river crossing near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River at this point to get back to the safety of Confederate ground, not knowing that they outnumbered the Union Army there. This was following the bloody battle at Antietam, on September 17, 1862. It was the Battle of Gettysburg the following summer that broke the South’s spirit.”  http://upstateheritagequilttrail.org/Images/Forms/107Blackfords%20Beauty.pdf

In my note with the quilt, I told the recipients –  “Bonnie created a unique layout by adding the sashing ‘between’ the blocks (the green that separates each block).  I added my own touch by using the big blue squares in the corner. So; what you have here is a UNIQUE quilt….civil war block; patterned into a quilt by Bonnie Hunter; made by Mary Deeter, especially for you.   Each of the big blocks has 53 pieces. I threw a few “USAF” blocks in there for fun!  Silas said you would like greens and blues, and I hope I have managed colors and tones that you will enjoy in years to come.  I’m sending along a printed copy of Bonnie’s pattern; so that you have a better idea of ‘how’ the quilt is made.  I’ve been posting my progress on creating this quilt all summer on my facebook page and my blog (www.stitchinggrandma.wordpress.com). I won’t put any final pictures up until you have received the finished quilt.   I want the two of you to see it first!”

So, another finish for the year!  Another blog in the can!  (Approaching 100 posts….might have to do something special for it…)

Happy stitching!

Advertisement