Success: Signature quilt top is pieced

I'll admit that there were times when I thought I'd never get around to sewing together the top to my signature quilt, but it is officially pieced together.

I still have to add two borders, but that's a piece of cake at this point. I've even gotten a little ahead of myself and started marking a quilting pattern on the top. I'm just going to quilt in the blue and orange sashing around the signatures, because I don't want to take away from the messages our friends and family wrote us on our wedding day.


I'm really glad I made these blocks instead of just having a guest book. In addition to well wishes, we also received lots of marital advice. And my aunt, also a quilter, even put our monogram on one block. The monogram is a big joke by the way as Adam, Soebbing, Stephanie, spells out ASS. There will never be monogrammed towels in our bathroom.

One of my family members that signed the quilt has passed away in the six months since the wedding, so I have a feeling that as my relatives get older, this quilt will be cherished.

I'm going to quilt it by hand using the big stitch method. I got blue and white variegated thread, so that should look nice as it weaves through three different colors of blue and orange. Now I just have a little less than six months to finish it before our one-year anniversary.

Making time for personal projects

I've been working on a T-shirt quilt for a client. He has several T-shirts from his days in the Navy, a union member and from several presidential elections.

The sashing is an appropriate red, white and blue. I finished sewing it to the top and left sides of the blocks two days before meeting the client so he can decide the layout of the T-shirts.


So I've been using my free time to work on a few projects of my own. I learned the big stitch quilting method in a class last fall and finally finished quilting my first block in the hand quilting style. Once I finish the entire quilt, I plan to use it as a wall hanging in my sewing room.


I also decided on a layout for a signature quilt of blocks signed by the guests at my husband and my wedding. They're made with the colors from our wedding. We'll have been married for five months on Friday, so it's about time I start sewing the blocks together. That's Lady, one of our three dogs "helping" lay out the blocks.

In defense of my procrastination, the best man forgot to sign his block at the wedding and just sent it to us in the mail a few weeks ago.