Bloggers' Quilt Festival - Emeralds and Ice Quilt

This is my entry for the two colour quilts category in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival running for the next couple of weeks.  Thanks for visiting!

I made this quilt as a wedding gift for my friend and workmate, and it was a joy to take this conceptual sketch...

...and these cut up squares of fabric...

to a finished quilt (maybe trimming all the half square triangles wasn't such a joy....)!

I was really thrilled with how the quilt turned out, and my friend seemed to like it too.  With wedding quilts, I like to try and steer away from super girly fabrics, because I want to make something the groom will like too.  The front of the quilt works for this, but I just couldn't resist this floral voile for the back.

I included little pops of print to break up the solids a little bit, and I think it adds a nice bit of interest while still leaving the quilt very crisp and simple.

The sun was going down as I took these photos, so the quilt looks darker here than it is in real life.

Quilting with voile was a little bit trickier than backing the quilt with regular quilting cotton, but not much.  I did end up with a very crinkly quilt after it was washed and dried!  I have to say, I was a bit worried when making this quilt, because I hadn't asked my friend about it (I wanted it to be a surprise), and it's a bit nerve wracking making a quilt when you're not sure the recipient will like it.  It was definitely worthwhile though - I really like giving my quilts away to friends and family.

Ivy says green is a very flattering colour for her...  Hopefully my friend's cat is getting some quilt snuggle time too!

I couldn't resist sharing these out-takes from the photo session.  I often get members of my family to help me with quilt photos.  They are very good about it, and I really appreciate the help they give me.  Sometimes, though, the quilt photography assistants have a mind of their own, which makes for some funny photos to look back on!

Yes, my sister is the mostly likely to dance with a quilt!

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  My own, inspired by this quilt from Red Pepper Quilts.

Finished Size:  Approximately 62 inches square.

Fabric: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Ice Frappe and Clover, tiny pops of Philip Jacobs Rambling Rose in Green for Westminster Fibres.

Backing: Flora and Fauna voile from Spotlight.

Binding: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Clover.

Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.