A quilt story

This is the quilt that I showed you a few close-ups of in the last post. The moment I saw Anna Maria Horner's Love Emblem quilt pattern I knew that was what I'd like to use as the starting point for a quilt for our friends, Sam and Leanne. Sam is one of my husband's oldest friends and despite the fact that we've only actually known Leanne for three years, she feels like one of our oldest friends too, so I really wanted this quilt, which was to be their wedding gift, to feel as though it was very much from my husband as well as me. With this in mind, I asked for his input in picking out the fabrics for it and we eventually put together a fairly Morrocan-inspired palette taken from a few of Anna Maria's fabric lines, mainly Good Folks and Innocent Crush.

The quilt itself was a real challenge to piece for me and at the time when I made it, back in March and April, it represented my first inroad into more complicated piecing (having mainly stuck to squares and rectangles up until that point). The variously sized triangles met and intersected one another at odd angles and I felt trepidatious for much of the time I was piecing them together, not quite believing I would end up with something usable. 

At this stage, as it was above, the colours really didn't work for me and I only felt happy with it once I'd finally hand stitched the heart in place and pulled it together with the red panels that surround the central square.

On the reverse I used a large piece of one of my favourite ever Anna Maria Horner prints and then to the side, little swatches of each of the fabrics that had appeared on the front of the quilt. The quilt patch reads: "For Samson & Leanne, may your years be filled with happiness. With love from Ian, Florence, ... & ... xxx"

Me standing behind it may give you some idea as to its size - it's smaller than a regular quilt - it's more of an armchair-sized throw. I did consider making it bigger, but felt it might be more handy at this size for trailing around the house, taking out on picnics or even eventually placing babies on.

Anyway, quilty quiltness aside, it was a deliciously lovely wedding. Sam and Leanne are two of the most special people in our lives. What I realised at their wedding was that we weren't alone in feeling this - they are a rare and wonderful couple in that they inspire nothing but love and adoration in everyone they meet.

I love these photos of barefooted happiness on a grassy hillside against a cloudy blue sky. Leanne wore a vintage dress. Sam wore a brand new pair of Converse. We wore smiles that hurt our cheeks.

Florence x