Single Wedding Ring Quilt

Two months before my wedding if you asked me how planning was going, I would have responded, "Well, I'm working on this quilt." Haha!  Some would call that crazy. For me, it was the complete opposite: it kept me sane. I guess that's love... of the craft and of the friends I gifted it to. 

This is the first quilt I've made for someone that wasn't a baby and I struggled with the design at first. Adults have style, decor, and personality to consider. It's risky! I had a few favourites picked out, but I kept searching and searching because nothing felt quite right. Then I stumbled across this image of an antique quilt on Pinterest and the search was over.

The block design is called the Single Wedding Ring and it's been around since the 1880s. It's also been known much less romantically throughout history as Crown of Thorns and Sawtooth, but we'll just ignore that. That blue and white palette is very traditional as well. Combined with modern prints and simple quilting, I couldn't think of anything more perfect for this couple on their wedding day.

One of the biggest challenges with this quilt was the thread colour. The majority of the quilt top was white, but what was I to do about quilting through the dark black and navy blocks? Mike tried to convince me it looked fine, but it drove me insane. So... I skipped all of those portions and then went back over them with black and navy as my top thread and white in the bobbin. Obviously it was much more time-consuming this way and the stitching on the back wasn't as neat as it could've been, but I don't care. I loved the result!

I was also on the fence about using the same chambray on the back, the border and the binding. Triple whammy. But, once again, Mike insisted and I'm so glad I took his advice. I love the simplicity. Less is more. In case you haven't noticed, there's a theme here.

This is exactly the kind of quilt I hoped to be able to make when I started quilting and I have a feeling that many more just like this are in my sewing future. I can only hope the newlyweds love it as much as I do and that they will enjoy many years of comfort and cuddles in its folds!