TWO COLLEGES, ONE WEDDING QUILT

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​The more time I spend quilting, the more I've realized just how many people out there would love to have a quilt made especially for them. (read more)

I actually have a list on my computer of all the quilts I've made, all the people I've promised quilts to, and all of the kits I have available to make. I adjust the list depending on when people ask, and then readjust when something comes up that takes precedence. 

Like a wedding.

A few months ago I got a "Save The Date!" notification in the mail. It was an adorable little magnet announcing the wedding of one of my husband's cousins.

I was so excited! I've known his cousins (all girls except for one) since they were very small, so seeing them grow up, get married, (and maybe have babies pretty soon so I can hold them at family gatherings) is just so, so special.

We went the normal route and purchased gifts for them from their registry (we got them a Roomba and some honeymoon excursions), but then I started thinking that I might offer to make the bride a quilt, as well.

I had my husband ask her dad what her favorite colors were, thinking it would be a nice surprise. 

"Purple and pink, in that order," was the reply.

Color scheme in mind, I headed over to my favorite quilting site, Connecting Threads, and started looking at kits that contained those colors. I found one I loved, and just to make sure I wouldn't be giving her something she didn't want, I friended her on Facebook (I'm not much of a FB user except for my blog/author page) and sent her a picture.

She quickly replied, telling me she loved the colors and the pattern, yay!!

Neither of us (at this point) thought to ask her fiance what he thought.

Grooms, why you gotta have opinions?

Kidding!

When I saw her before Christmas she mentioned that he thought the colors were a bit...not masculine. He did make sure to tell me, "If you made it, we'd like it, no matter what, of course!" But, since I hadn't made it, and I could accommodate doing it in a manner they'd both love, it was a no brainer.

They mentioned that he went to Texas Tech and thought a quilt in those colors might be nice. That would be easy! I'd just finished making an Arkansas Razorbacks quilt for a relative, so another college color quilt wouldn't be a problem.

Only, the bride went to K-State, not Texas Tech, so what about her? 

I briefly entertained the idea of making two quilts, one in her school fabric and colors, one in his, but decided against it. After all, a wedding is about two becoming one. So why not find a pattern that could fit both colleges?

First, I went hunting on Etsy to see what I could find in material. Thankfully their selection is plentiful and I was easily able to find two materials that were similar in look. 

That done, I went back to the drawing board, heading to Connecting Threads to find the perfect pattern to bring the material together.

​I wanted something that had blocks big enough to showcase each school, but nothing that would make one school stand out more than the other. 

I also wanted a pattern that would let me either do a complete half and half, or at least let me have a central set of blocks that I could mismatch across to achieve balance. 

Success!

In case you're thinking I might be spoiling the bride's surprise, don't worry too much about that. It may be just me, but I can't ever picture a finished product in my head, unless I'm doing the exact materials as the pattern, of course. 

Every fabric in this pattern will be different than what you're seeing here, so she'll still get the WOW factor when she sees it for the first time.

​And, since It has so many 5" squares, it gives me loads of options as far as material placement. I could do half and half horizontally or vertically, putting some of each in the center row. I could also just do random placement, or I could skip one in between each, like a checkerboard. 

I'm so excited to get started! It's going to be a long week waiting for my Etsy material to get here, but come April, they are going to love this quilt! And, I can almost guarantee no one else coming to the wedding will be giving them a quilt like this. :)

Have you done a similar quilt? If you've got ideas on how I should place the college fabric in the squares, I'd love to hear it in the comments below.

Happy Quilting!
​Ty

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