A Day at the Lake

It's not quite lake-weather in DC, though it is supposed to get warmer tomorrow. But this is a long overdue wedding quilt for two friends, Cynthia and Andy, who got married in August when it certainly was lake weather. Growing up, both spend a lot of time in the Adirondacks with their families and, over the past decade or so (!), have spent a lot of time there with one another. As soon as I saw their invitation, which used multiple shades of blue and included an image of a boat, I knew blue would be central to whatever I made for them.

Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow line in the "Pond" palette was perfect for this project. When it first came out, I knew I would find a use for it, and I had squirreled away 8 prints and 2 coordinating Bella solids. I stored this group of fabric in my bin of "special project" fabrics -- these are the ones I know I want to use together and wait for the right project. This table runner was certainly the right project. I mulled over possible designs, at first thinking about making sailboats and wonky stars. I played around with some layouts and tried to find a sailboat block I liked. But nothing really stood out. So I opted for sashed bricks (3.25" x 6.5" bricks and 1.5" sashing), a design that I think is great for displaying the wonderful fabrics in this collection.

While the brick design is somewhat traditional, I went for modern, improv, and funky on the other side. When I made the bricks, I cut 3.25" strips from each of the 10 fabrics and then 3 bricks from each, which meant that I had plenty of the strips left. I started to chop and sew and see where it went. I got so into it that when I sewed all the rows together, it was much bigger than the other side, at which point I trimmed it down. I like how the two sides use the same fabrics in really different ways, both because they show how fabric can be deployed in a variety of patterns and also because it gives Cynthia and Andy two options for display.

I used the white sashing as the guide for quilting, only sewing within those lines but meandering around the bricks in no particular order which created a neat design on the other side (this picture was taken before I washed the runner).

Originally I thought I'd bind the runner in the navy solid, but as I put it together, I decided that the "flower fields" print would be a better option. I'm glad I chose it as I think it helps bring both sides together in ways a solid would not.

And there were still more leftover pieces of fabric. Coordinating coasters were in order, and I made 6: 2 each in 3 different designs. The one peeking out from the bottom has a strip of modern meadow fabrics across the middle, with white on either side. As hard as it was to send these off, I loved sending them to Cynthia and Andy who are just fantastic people. And, since they live just outside NYC, I'll get to hang out with them later in the spring when I'm in New York.