The Secret Wedding Quilt, Part 1

So my absolutely adorable brother-in-law is getting married in May and I couldn't be happier with his choice of bride. She is so cute and just perfect for him. As much of a catch as he is, he totally scored with this lady, for sure.

And since my cute brother-in-law is also responsible for setting me up my my husband, I owe him, BIG TIME. I knew immediately that I would make them a quilt for their wedding present because I really wanted to give them something personal and from the heart. I decided on a Denyse Schmidt inspired design. It was her quilting book that sparked my brain and made me want to try out quilting. Initially, I shied away from doing something directly inspired by one of her quilts because I really wanted to push myself and see what I could come up with on my own first. Now that I have a few (cough cough) quilts under my belt, I am more comfortable cribbing her style.

Serendipity helped me pick out the colors for this quilt. I walked into my local fabric store and saw these two blue/greens leaning up again each other and that was all I needed. The combination reminds me of the ocean, which is so much a part of the happy couple's life.

Here are 2/3 of the blocks laid out on my bed. I have about 11 more to go before I can piece the top together.

The quilt is going to be a queen size (I know, I am scared about quilting something so big too) and each block will get cut down to 14 1/2 " square. If it works out that I can make them into rectangles, I might do that instead and skip adding a border on the top and bottom to fill out the quilt.
I didn't use a pattern when making the blocks. I cut the center squares first and then cut irregular strips selvage to selvage and worked with what I picked up. I love how wonderfully wonky they are, but as you can see, they don't lie perfectly flat. I am crossing my fingers that some spray starch will help me to get them flat enough that I can quilt it properly, but there will be a lot of praying to the sewing goddess on this one.

If anyone out in the internet has any suggestions, I am all ears.

Here is a nice flat block that shows of the colors. Too bad they aren't all like this.

Oh, this quilt is a surprise so if you know that happy couple, please help me keep this secret.

Too be continued...

A birthday present

Here is a little make up bag I made for my too cute future sister-in-law. I am loving the combination of turquoise and red, so much so that I made another one just like it for me. I added some fun little lip balms, breath freshener and a gift certificate to Sephora to round out the present.