The Quiltmaker's Gift

Mike and I got married this past February in Florida over President's Day Weekend, which made it a destination wedding for just about everyone except my parents, my Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Jacques, and our life-long family friends, the Baileys. We were thrilled that so many of our friends and families made the trip to Florida to celebrate with us. While we told them that we didn't need any gifts (we had just combined two households worth of stuff), they ignored us and showered us with presents anyways. Thanks everyone, you were all very generous!

I couldn't find a wedding photo, but here is a photo of our wedding cake topper. Looks just like us!

Here we are in Hawaii on our honeymoon!

 Of course, being a quiltmaker, some my favorite gifts were the hand-made gifts. It's rare that people make me something, they assume that I can make it myself, so why bother? My girlfriend Eleanor made us a lovely wedding album and one of Mike's parents' friends made us a wooden salad bowl.

We were also fortunate enough to receive three quilts!

I received our first quilt in February at our annual Cape retreat a few weeks before our wedding. This was a group quilt made by friends in my Sunday quilting group, aka the Brown Baggers, which was organized by my friend Marion. Marion chose the pattern (a half log cabin variation), rounded up the participants, and once all the blocks were collected, she and Joannie put the quilt together (and probably made some extra blocks as well). Kim P. quilted it. All the girls contributed blocks in my favorite colors, made out of lovely Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I LOVE this quilt. It is on our bed and we sleep under it every night.

Later this summer, Mike and I came home and found this GORGEOUS  Double Wedding Ring quilt in our back yard, artfully draped over a bench (also a wedding gift). This quilt was made by my friend Joannie, pictured on the right. (Joannie also made me a beautiful tote bag out of wedding print fabrics.) I have always wanted a Double Wedding Ring quilt but had never made one, even though I've been quilting for almost 20 years, because they are extremely difficult! Joannie, who is undaunted by anything, taught herself how to make one with a pattern and a YouTube video. Did I mention that Joannie just started quilting about a year or two ago? The quilt is made out of animal prints (another of my favorites!) and it is quilted with musical notes in honor of Mike. Joannie and her husband Dan also gave us the aforementioned bench, not pictured, to take to outdoor concerts. I haven't found a special place for this yet, because I'm afraid that if I use it on the couch, the pugs will get it dirty, so I think that I am going to hang it in our hallway or bedroom. Still deciding...

And we were surprised again when we got another squishy package in the mail a few weeks ago! My cousin Liz and her boyfriend Sam, had commissioned this wall-hanging for us. Interestingly enough, Sam is the one who is fascinated by quilts. He collects vintage shirts and has them made into Crazy Quilts. Our quilt has various fabrics that represent our different hobbies and passions. The left side of the quilt is "Mike" fabrics, such as cameras, guitars and cooking, the right side of the quilt is "Nancy" fabrics, such as chocolate, sewing and reading, and the middle of the quilt is "us" fabrics with pugs and wedding imagery. It is adorable. I plan to sew some hooks to the back and hang it downstairs in our kitchen so we can see it every day.

Hope that you enjoyed seeing our wonderful wedding quilts!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy