Super Secret Revealed
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The super secret project is finally finished! For those of you who didn’t know what it was, I made my sister Kayla a quilt as a wedding present and gave it to her as her Bridal Shower yesterday.
While I was making this quilt, I noticed a few things that are the same about quilting and marriage that I wanted to make sure to pass on to my little sister. Just like making a quilt, a good marriage takes hard work, time, and patience. My hope is that when she uses this quilt, she’ll remember that.
The front of the quilt has 2340 pieces of fabric in 180 7-inch blocks laid out in a 12×15 grid. It took me about 6 months of intermittent work to complete. Based on the average time for each block, plus cutting the fabric and piecing the finished blocks together, I’m estimating the project took about 60 hours. I think if I’d worked on it every day, I could have gotten it done in about a month. I’m also pretty sure it would have been much faster if I had used honeybuns – which are rolls of 1.5-inch strips. That’s what the quilt pattern called for, but unfortunately, there were none to be found around here, so I spent a lot of the time rotary cutting all those strips.
Here's the finished top laid out on my living room floor, before it got quilted.
The back of the quilt was much easier. I used large blocks of fabric and a jelly roll for the back of the quilt. That made it go together a lot quicker. It only took about a week to complete.
Closeup of the back of Kayla's quilt
Closeup of the back before it was quilted
This quilt is cat approved. Don't worry Kayla I cleaned it.
I’m glad I started the project as early as I did. After I worked on it for 6 months, it still had to be quilted. That’s where my wonderful mother-in-law comes in. She does a lot of quilting, and she offered to do the hand quilting and binding for me. With all her other projects, she was still able to get it done for me in time for my sister’s Bridal Shower over the weekend.
Mary Kay was a big help. She did all of the quilting & binding.
A Finished Product
The front of Kayla's quilt. Thanks to the in-laws for holding it up.
Of course, Mary Kay wasn’t the only help I had. My aunt Susan was also a huge help, she embroidered that white block on the back for me with Kayla & Shane’s names and wedding date.
The back of Kayla's quilt. Thanks to the in-laws for holding it up.
I’m super excited about the final product. What do you think?
It’s beautiful Andrea!!! I hope she loves and cherishes it!
Thanks Carla! I’m sure she likes it, or at least she’s good at faking it. 🙂
Love it! Love your description of how it relates to a marriage too
Thanks Susan! That lap quilt you made for me was my inspiration to make Kayla one.
Looks great! You did a good job.
Thanks Dave! Now on to my other quilting projects. Got to stay busy.
I absolutely love this! The colors are great, the pattern looks very interesting….can’t appreciate the quilting from the pics but I’m absolutely sure it’s perfect if Mary Kay did it!
I’ll try to get some closeups of the quilting next time I’m at Mom’s house. I think that’s where the quilt is living until they get settled in their house.
The back is as pretty as the front!!!
Thanks so much Valerie.
Wow that back is like a landscape! So pretty front and back.
Thanks so much Kris!
What a lovely quilt, and even lovelier story of how a quilt represents marriage. I wish nothing but luck to your sister Kayla on her upcoming wedding. Thanks for sharing your story on Wednesday Wait Loss.
I think that’s one lucky sister! It’s a beautiful quilt, and how wonderful to have the hand quilting, binding, and labeling help! The back also relates to marriage. No matter what you plan, things change, life happens, you have to go with what you have and can do, and make something beautiful of it. In your backing, the blue reminds me of the blissful beginnings of my marriage, the strips remind me of all the trials and troubles (but still love and joy) we had for a while, and the yellow is the coming into the sunshine of happiness for the final 25 years. May your sister find the same happiness.