TBT: A Tiny Wedding Present

It was June 1995. I had, by that time, ended my tiny quilting career (you can read about that if you click on "my tiny career" on the right sidebar) and returned to my career in the schools. I didn't even try to quilt during the school year, but did sew during vacations. That year, my oldest niece graduated from college, and within a few short weeks, got married. I really, really wanted to make a quilt for her and her new husband for a wedding present. But I was still mired in paperwork. (Oh, and we also were selling our house and packing to move.) What to do. I needed something I could make quickly.

So, after checking with her mother about color preferences (dark greens and reds), I made a very tiny quilt of the sort I had enjoyed making during my tiny career. Bad photo. I know. It's the best I can do. It looks grayish, but those are three shades of green. 

This quilt is a churn dash based on a pattern by Becky Schaefer in her book Working in Miniature. I'm not sure how big it is, but the quilts I quilted for her were about 9 1/2 inches by 12 1/2 inches. This one is probably slightly bigger because of multiple borders--around the blocks and around the central section. I did take time to draw my own hand quilting designs. I outline quilted in the churn dash blocks, and made stylized five-petal flowers in the plain squares and vines in the triangles and outer green borders. Looking at the photo of the back, I see that I used dark green thread for the border. Yikes! That couldn't have been fun. 

Here's what I remember about making this quilt: I managed to get the sleeve on before we left home (the wedding was about 3 1/2 hours away). I also had the foresight to attach the label, and I machine sewed the binding on the front. In addition, I prepped the gift box so I could just pop the quilt in when it was finished. On the way to the wedding, I hand sewed the binding to the back, finishing it shortly before we got to the wedding. I'm not sure if those photos were taken at a rest stop or in the parking lot at the park where the wedding was to take place. Oh my. 

And now for a few laughs. The photos above are cropped. Here's what was really going on. That dress. (You can't see much of the BIG lace trimmed collar and tie.) White tights. Chunky, clunky shoes. Little House on the Prairie, anyone? (And no, my blog name is not based on those books or the TV show.) Oh, and the temperature was close to 90 degrees. What was I thinking?!!

Let's see that again. Giggle, giggle, snort. Those shoes!

Here's an additional tidbit that I just realized: The couple who received this hastily-made quilt soon started a family. In fact, the quilts from my last Throwback Thursday post belong to their three kids.  

Okay, true confession. I was planning to write a more meaty post this month about some other quilts. But once again I am running off-schedule and had to hurry to get this written. I don't even have an excuse as I am long retired (and not moving my household) and should be able to get things done without hurrying at the last minute. At least this is timely as the couple are coming up on their 24th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks.

I'm linking up today with Andrée at Quilting and Learning--What a Combo for Throwback Thursday. (She shares this responsibility with Sandra at mmm! quilts, so thank you, Andrée!)  

I hope you have some oldies to share, too--and maybe some sartorial silliness we can all laugh at. I can only hope I'm not the only one who was (is?) fashion challenged.