Wedding Sampler Show

I took the photos last night at quilting of my wedding sampler. I will show you the blocks one by one but there are 12 of them so will break this into a couple of posts to make them smaller (and in case I run out of time to write!) Grab a cuppa and here we go.

First was the sashing. Since it was both horizontal and vertical I had to choose a design element that was not directional. Then I had to use the computer to lay it out in the size it would be on my quilt. You would be surprised how stretching out a design can really change it. This is what I chose.
Front and Back

Next came the star in the sashing. I wanted something in the center of the star and found these hearts. Loved it since this is for a wedding gift. I also used this element scaled up in the corners of the border. Notice how I outlined the star? That took a lot of time and a lot of babysitting to make sure it went right. Even though it is programed in the computer, it is only as good as your piecing, the shifting of the fabric as it stitches and how you "draw" your point to point line for the computer to follow. So you watch it as it stitches and move the fabric slightly as needed with your hand. I got much better at the end of the quilt so don't look too closely at this one!

LTW chose the swag on the outer border and she executed that for me.

The next part involved the actual blocks. I had to choose some blocks to quilt into my blocks. I chose some and changed some and these are what I ended up with. I will tell you what I liked and what I didn't as we go along. First up is block 1 front and back

I really liked how the quilting went all the way around the block. I liked the feathers and how that design softened this block.

Block 2 Front and back

Believe it or not, this is the block I built the quilting around. I love the pearled feathered wreath and I felt it was perfect for this block. I still feel like that. I LOVE this block. I am happy with how it sits in the block. I like how the center flower came together in the center of the block and the outside, where there is no quilting, is not as obvious since there is a lot of color in the outside pieces! Love it!!

Block 3 Front and Back

I love how the leaf shapes work in the outer corners and I really like how the center came out using this design. I chose this design because it looks somewhat Celtic and my friend loves Celtic things (me too).

Block 4 Font and Back

I wanted a few patterns that had or looked like hearts. This one had part that looked like swirly hearts. The swirls soften the angular look of the block. Liked how this one dressed up this block.

Block 5 Front and Back
I like this block a lot, but probably should have chosen a different pattern for the quilting. It is not perfectly balanced on all the sides. First I will show you the front and back then an up close to illustrate what I mean.

Notice how the quilting pattern is not the same from side to side. Look where the stitching is including the star point to the seam line and you will see it. I could have tweaked it but I didn't know this until it was stitched. The center did work out though, which was nice.


Block 6 Front and Back

Although I really loved this quilting pattern(hearts you know) I was happy that the corners of the block kind of covered up that the quilting did not go all the way to the corners. I would use this again though as I really liked the pattern.

Blocks 7-12 next.