I'm shocked. Baffled really. At myself. When I was making the wedding quilt for my S-I-L, I thought I took photos... Then after the wedding I was looking through my camera and realized that I told myself at each step, "I'll get pictures later." Well, later was the wedding and no really good photos...
In my defense, life has been crazy and I got the fabric and picked out the pattern the Saturday before the wedding. Meaning like 7 days beforehand... I immediately went home and started cutting. It took the next couple of days to complete the top. Then I feverishly quilted it and put on the binding stitching as much as I could each night in the few days I had left.
Well, I finished with just enough time to jump in the shower and head off to the wedding, so I never did get a full finished shot of the quilt, but I can assure you it's gorgeous. Even the bride has told me several times :)
When the newlyweds are back from their honeymoon and life has settled into a "normal" state, I'll see if I can get a picture of them and the quilt. For now, here's a shot I took while I was laying out the blocks and checking the color placement:
Now, I wanted to share the pattern with you too and let you know how I altered it if you would like to make one too. I went to the trusty
Moda Bake Shop and looked up Jelly Roll patterns because I had a Bali Pop that seemed like the perfect colors for the couple and that's where I wanted to start. Knowing I had a tight deadline and not knowing the future of the couple (I'll explain in a minute), I wanted something simple yet effective and large.
What I found was the
Boxes of Colour Quilt by
Andrea from Urban Quiltworks and I knew it was the pattern I needed. Then I started reading the instructions and it only called for about half of a jelly roll and the quilt finished at only 48" square... that wasn't nearly big enough, but I paused and did some math and left the store with everything I needed.
I contacted Andrea and asked if I could share how I altered the quilt and what you'd need and she was more than gracious! So, the original pattern is found
here on the Moda Bake Shop, you'll need that first.
My version of this quilt finished at 80" x 96". To make this size I used:
1 Wild Berry Bali Pop (40 strips 2 1/2" wide)
20 extra Blue/Teal/Green 2 1/2" wide strips
4 3/4 yards of background fabric
7/8 yard binding
6 yards backing
Meg & Drew met in Egypt while they were both working there so I used the Wild Berry Bali Pop as my jumping off point and added in some blues and teals and greens to make it not so purple, yet give it an oasis type feel. Meg chose purple and blue tones for the wedding so I knew I wanted to incorporate those and I found an amazing hydrangea print for the backing. I chose a light pinkish tan (Tortilla by Hoffman I think...) for the background and it worked quite well.
I wanted this quilt to be versatile since the couple may stay here, they may move back to Egypt, and let's face it - they're newlyweds - who knows what life has in store for them so this pattern was perfect.
Alright, back to the pattern. I separated all of the jelly roll & extra strips into lights and darks as the pattern called for. Cut those just as Andrea calls for.
For the background, I cut 8 strips 2 1/2" wide, 4 strips 4 1/2" wide, 8 strips 6 1/2" wide and 8 strips 8 1/2" wide. Then I cut each of these strips into 2 1/2" wide segments. These will be all of the background pieces you'll need.
I made 60 of each block and laid them out very similar to Andrea's sample. The only thing I switched up was that I kept all of the 'B' Blocks paired with matching fabrics and made the 'A' Blocks random. I actually made a larger block with the two matching 'B' Blocks and two random 'A' Blocks which made layout and piecing the top much easier.
I hope you try out this pattern because it's not only quick, it's awesome! Thanks again to Andrea for letting me share my changes. Either way, if you make this quilt, please visit
Andrea at Urban Quiltworks and show her what you've created!
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