Hello friends! I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful September. It’s my favorite month of the year – and while things have been a little crazy for our family getting grown-up kids launched and set up in new places over the past few months, I feel like we’re finally starting to slow down and catch our breath. And I’m grateful!
And one of the results… I’ve actually had time to sit at my sewing machine! Hurray! So I thought I’d share a little of what is currently on my sewing table. Plus I’ve pulled out my oldest documented WIP (Work In Progress) to share with you. (And you can help me feel accountable for finally finishing!)
Here’s a peek at what’s been going on this week. As you can see I’ve got not only one but TWO sewing machines going right now. Hah! I’ve got my Baby Lock Destiny II machine set up for some machine embroidery projects. I’ve also go my Baby Lock Jubliant machine set up for some Foundation Paper Piecing.
I took my Jubilant to Garden of Quilts last week when I took my foundation paper-piecing class with Violet Craft. (It’s such an ideal travel machine.) And when I got home, I set it right up on the table and kept working on my blocks!
This will probably end up as a mini quilt, but I’m having fun and getting on a roll with these blocks! (Pattern is Fan Palm Quilt by Violet Craft.)
As far as Machine Embroidery goes, I just got my October Box from M.E. Time and I’m excited to start sewing blocks. I love the M.E. Time system for foundation piecing perfect blocks in the embroidery hoop.
Also on the sewing table this week: pants to hem for the Homecoming Dance. I’m very exclusive in taking hemming clients. They have to share the same address as I do. 😉
This week I also pulled out my oldest documented WIP (Work in Progress). It’s my 25th Wedding Anniversary this weekend (hence the lovely flowers) and in honor of that I pulled out the still-unfinished quilt I made for my wedding 25 years ago! And I determined that THIS IS THE YEAR I am going to officially finish it. Because why not actually use a 25-year-old quilt that’s been folded up on a closet all of this time.
This is the first large-ish quilt I ever made. I’d taken sewing lessons, made some clothes (with a lot of help) and some little quilt blocks and projects. But since I was getting married I decided I needed to make a quilt. Like one does!
I didn’t have a lot of experience but I knew about ¼″ seam allowances and rotary cutters and just went for it. It’s not perfect and my mom helped clean-up some of my errors, but looking at it I’m pretty proud that I decided to try something new to me at the time.
(And my husband liked to tease me that I gave him a little bit of a bait and switch. When we got married I never planned to become an obsessive quilter. And well, here we are. 😉)
The quilt is a Double Irish Chain pattern and I pieced it by strip-piecing. (Even back then, I loved short cuts.) The green, pink and purple florals coordinated with our wedding colors, so it’s a great time capsule of that era.
I’m love seeing that these colors have made a comeback for weddings. My bridesmaids’ dresses were forest green and we had white flowers with lots of eucalyptus leaves. Just this week I went to a wedding where the bridesmaids were wearing forest green and the flowers were almost identical to mine 25 years ago. Everything truly comes back around.
But I never really decorated with those colors, so in a closet it sat.
Also, as you can see, the quilt is hand quilted. My mom did a lot of a the straight line stitching and a good friend of hers did the medallion motif in the muslin spaces.
This is another reason this WIP has languished as unfinished for so long. The quilt is basted well with a rolled hem binding, but the outside borders have never been quilted. And I felt like those borders deserved to be hand quilted as well, but that priority just never made it to the top of the list. Also I’ve over-analyzed it in the past trying to find a good border stencil, maybe I should just get the borders machine quilted, but would that ruin the look and feel of the quilt? blah blah blah… and as a result nothing ever happened.
A few weeks ago I pulled it out as I was cleaning out my quilt cupboard and thought, you know, I should finally finish this. And to answer the over-analytical part of my brain I just decided to mark cross hatch lines like the rest of the quilt and just sit and get it done. So today I pulled out my Hera Marker from Modern American Vintage and started marking lines. This will my my cozy on-the-couch hand-work project this fall.
Because the quilt is hand-quilted it’s incredibly soft and drape-y. The perfect weight for a nap or watching a movie. Enough of this quilt sitting in a cupboard. Time to put it to use! Stay tuned for a final finish.
Here’s a snapshot of those two crazy kids on that day. Holy smokes – where does 25 years go? Life is a roller coaster full of ups and downs, thrills and drama, isn’t it? I feel lucky we have each other. We recently took a personality test and we scored on opposite ends of the spectrum on pretty much every characteristic. We had to laugh. We’ve always known we had really different personalities but here was proof. lol. At the same time I know our those different strengths and weaknesses balance each other out and make us a good team.
The first 25 years have been full of raising kids, building businesses, and finding balance over and over again amidst the sometimes chaos of it all. I feel like we just hit a new stage of life now that kids are growing more independent and I’m curious to see where life takes us next.
Life has been to chaotic to take time to celebrate this milestone in a big way. But we did take a drive through the mountains for an overnight getaway. And I’ll always take that. Especially in the fall.
buddhajames777
Oh, my goodness, you were a beautiful bride!!!!
jorjakimball
So wonderful and best for getting it done and hurrah for digging it out!!! Love the picture or 25 years ago. It does fly and sounds like has been fun! thanks for sharing and I love the quilt.
Denise
I love those late 90’s colors! A very beautiful quilt, nothing like hand quilting. So much love in that quilt.
petticoats1957
Oh my word Amy ,you looked too young to be married! Definitely a pair of kids, but such HAPPY kids. Congratulations on your Silver wedding. Beautiful picture of the Autumnal colours.
Noelene
Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary to you Amy and your husband, keep wondering where the time goes my husband and I have been married 55yrs this year and we are still wondering.. all the best from Australia. 🇦🇺🤗
WENDY ARMITAGE
I absolutely love the ‘oldest wip that was’ quilt. I love the colours. The white really makes the colours stand out.
Andrea Honeyman-Brown
Beautiful wedding photograph, happy Silver Wedding Anniversary.
linda wallace
Happy Anniversary and enjoy your wedding quilt to warm the next 25!
Little Quiltsong
Oh my – love your wedding pic – and so happy you decided to finish your wedding quilt! It is a beautiful pattern and fabric choices. Also Happy Anniversary, Amy!!
Monique
Happy anniversary! You are right, time does go by fast. We have been married 34 years, but it seems like just yesterday. Happy finishing of your quilt, perfect for the colder months xx
Mary B
Love the quilt!! And I agree you were a beautiful bride. What a great candid picture of you and hubby! Happy Anniversary!!!
rtrittel
Happy Anniversary! How glad you will be when you finish that quilt – thanks for sharing and encouraging all of us to just ‘get it done!’
Michelle Hahne
Love your stories! We also celebrated 25 yrs this year, in August. My oldest daughter’s wedding in March had mostly the same color scheme as yours, it really is fascinating watching trends come back again!
Gwyn
Congratulations! Our 25th is next year. I still have a forest green bridesmaid dress from my brother’s wedding in the 90’s as well. I’m sure I can’t fit into it. I keep thinking I should try FPP, but it’s so fiddly. I live the way you have it all set up.
texasquiltgal
I’m happy for the languishing quilt. 😀 Love the photo of the two of you “kids” getting married.
Denise
Your quilt is lovely and I admire your courage to attempt such an intricate pattern for your first “big” project. I’m afraid my oldest WIP beats yours by a few years. Started in 1978 from a maple leaf pattern in Better Homes & Gardens” and using a bedsheet torn into strips for blocks (because I didn’t know any better – my first “big” project 🙄), I finally have it sashed and ready to quilt, but, because I feel it deserves to be hand quilted, it’s still waiting on me to get the job done. Forty-four years and counting. 😊
Jeanita Miller
I enjoy your blog, Amy. Thanks for sharing your wedding day photo.
Jocelyn
Love your wedding picture. You will have a lot to look forward to in the next 25 years. We will celebrate our 50th next year. And believe me, it feels like is has gone by like a snap.
Kate Craney-Welch
Not going to lie. Mountains are always an inspiration of mine. The awe is just something you have to feel. Happy anniversary! (We have 20 in November – not sure how to spend it yet, but seperately, we both apparently did one sweet and one funny gift.) ( My funny gift is a t shirt sayin “Husband of the world’s sexiest quilter”. I laughed so hard when I found that shirt at a quilt expo!)
Marci
Congratulations!!!
We eloped but had a real ceremony at 50 with kids & grands & this weekend celebrating 60 years —we are so Blessed & thankful every day.
I have made quilts for all those years & now new great grands will arrive! We count our Blessings every day!
Enjoy & Congratulations!!
Love your blogs!
Becky G
What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations!
Karen Lewis
Your wedding quilt is truly stunning! So glad you’re finishing it! And to have it hand quilted is truly phenomenal. Happy anniversary!
Carol
I love following your blog. Wow, you did amazing work 25 years ago. I had my upstairs attic converted int a guest/swing room a few years when my husband was sick. He passed away last November so sewing and quite have help me get through the grief. We were married for 51 years. Enjoy you sweet family and husband. You are blessed.
Mary
Congrats on 25 years! Love that you are finishing your quilt!
Carla
Happy anniversary Amy. It’s 38 yrs for my husband and I today too.
Carla
Donna
Happy Anniversary…May you have many more love filled years together💞🥂🎉🎉
Joan Sheppard
Never too late. I sometimes pick up a hexie quilt that my grandmother started, my mother worked on and now me – should I leave a little corner for my daughter then grandsons so add to it? You both look so utterly happy!
Judy D
Happy Anniversary Amy!
Sharon
Love your double Irish chain! That was one of the first quilts I made with a rotary cutter,always cut with scissors before that! I hand quilted it too.,it took me almost a year but I finished it !
Barb S
Happy Anniversary Amy! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy your quilting and personal stories!
Have a great week.
Jan
Congratulations on 25 years. We celebrated 50 years on Christmas Eve 2021. I’ve been told marriage anniversaries should always be told to be an example to the younger generations that you never give up through the ups & downs. I look forward to your Saturday email; the news & the pictures. We won’t mention the WIPs I have. Deadlines move me but my projects linger.
Melissa R
I have been going through my crafting/quilting tubs because I finally painted my basement (where I have my quilting set up). I haven’t been quilting long enough to have any WIP quilts, but I have plenty of other WIP sewing projects from before I developed my new mad sewing skillz (yes… still fledgling…), and I have decided to check them off my list one by one between larger projects/gifts. Thanks for giving me an added push and also reminding me that it’s never too late to finish something! Congrats on 25 years!