The Double Wedding Ring Quilt - Done

It is finished - and I couldn't be more pleased with how it has turned out.

First a little explanation about the recipients which will make some of the details about the quilt make more sense. The quilt is for my brother, Justin and has wife since last November, Amy. And yes, I realise that makes this a very late wedding present. Amy's blog documenting the planning of their wedding was called Polka Dots and Sunshine, she wore a dress with small dots on the overdress fabric and the flowers at the wedding were yellow. Justin's favourite colour is green. They married in a garden in the foothills of Perth and marked the aisle with handmade pinwheels from scrapbooking paper.

The quilt measures 55" by 65" and is 4 rings by 5 rings making the quilt a lap size. It is the size I had planned from the beginning to be used on the couch or at the end of the bed but if I had several more months I might have gone for a bed size as the piecing is time consuming and, at time tedious, but once I got the hand of it it turned out not to be so hard.

I didn't use a 'pattern' as such but cut everything using templates from Matilda's Own, the set I bought coming with a handy book detiling fabric requirements for different quilt sizes as well as some very detailed and helpul piecing directions and the template designs to square off the edges. The holes in the templates to mark seam intersections was also VERY helpful.

So to the fabric choices and placement. The intersecting squares bringing the rings together were the two colours that represtented Justin and Amy, the green and the yellow. The other prints in the rings included a number of spots as a nod to the wedding's 'shape' theme as well as some other prints to balance these out.

The backing fabric was chosen as a contrast to the front, stripes and spots but the print could have been a little overwhealing without being split. The double pinwheel blocks down the centre is reminicinet of the aisle at their wedding ceremony which was marked by homemade pinwheels made using scrapbook paper.

I echo quilted the rings on my machine. I love the way it looks but it took a lot longer than I thought and really took a lot out of my neck and shoulders. I enjoy quilting all my own quilts but the basic domestic machines certainly have their limits.

Of course it is labelled on the back - the quote is one that came to Amy when planning ceremony readings for the wedding but didn't feel is appropriate to include in the ceremony itself. And of course their names and the wedding date. On the way home with them tomorrow.

Other Posts about this quilt

A Project (with a capital P)

HandmadeRetro: Double Wedding Ring Progress (or procrastination)

HandmadeRetro: A deep breath....and start - The Double Wedding ...

Arc, Melons and Centres - The Double Wedding Ring quilt

A curvy Weekend

Quilting Underway....finally

...Travels in your local land

As I sat waiting for my flight home from Brisbane Friday night I realised that of the six states and two mainland territories in Australia I have now visited them all bar one state (Tasmania) and one territory (Northern Territory). Of the ones I have been to I've lived in three, and I feel pretty comfortable in the ACT, as I have visited lots.


As for the other two I've driven right across South Australia but not actually gone to Adelaide, or the Barossa Valley or any other the other "tourist" areas so while I might have seen more than most it still sort of feels that I haven't really been there. As for Queensland, I think I spent the majority of this week within one square kilometre in the centre of Brisbane plus the train trip to and from the airport.

Art in a Mall in Brisbane. The caption mentions pixels in photography but I think it looks like a random postage stamp quilt.  

There is certainly much, much more to see and many more places I could visit. I have been reminded of some family that lived on the next farm when I was young. Every few years they went on huge extended driving holidays, including once right up Cape York in far North Queensland. The theory, as I remember is being said, is that they wanted their children to see every state of Australia before they went overseas. I feel like I'm kind of close to that goal, yet further away.


What is it about us that travel to far off locations instead of around the corner? So tell me, where in your local land would you like to visit?

...English Paper Piecing

I've been away for a conference at work this week and bought a little hand sewing with me, in a pouch I made the night before I left.

This last minute sewing before I travel seems to becoming a semi-regular tradition!

I have run out of fabric so I have been playing with papers and coming up with some ideas for future projects!

I bought the Playing with Paper Pack 31 by Patchwork with Busy Fingers

...something for Nik

There is an occasionally repeated, misquoted movie line in our house that goes something like

‘Nik ‘aint doing nothing ‘til Nik get something for Nik, get me a hot chocolate, and some pie,... a piece of pecan *** pie!’

So because he is really quite helpful and he does put up with a lot of sewing and quilting time at 11pm Wednesday night Nik did get a WHOLE pecan pie!

Quilting Underway....finally

Quilting Underway....finally, a photo by HandmadeRetro on Flickr.

This picture is a little affected by perspective...but not by much. The throat on my machine is not huge so there is a lot of pulling and turning and tugging to get this design quilted with my walking foot but I am going to persist because I love the effect is is having.