A Secret Revealed

     For the last several months I have been working on a project that I could not share with you. 

     My dear friend Eleanor started this quilt, intending it to be a quilt for her daughters wedding. She designed an elaborate pieced border, collected a group of beautiful fabrics, and made one side of the border. Since her daughter was 16 years old she thought she had plenty of time. But, you know how time flies. Now her daughter is 28 years old, and she announced her engagement last fall. The wedding was planned for this past weekend. So, Eleanor, and her mother (the bride-to-be's grandmother) hired me to make the remaining 3 border sides, and come up with something to put in the center. I have spent much of this past winter and spring working on it. I finished several weeks ago, but didn't want to chance sharing it because I didn't want to risk spoiling the surprise.

     Here is a photo of a copy I made of Eleanor's original drawing.
 

      I started by trying to come up with something that would look good in the center. The border looked kind of Moorish to me. I know Eleanor wanted the quilt to have a romantic feel. I thought of a quilt I made recently, called Arabesque. It is really a variation on a Trip Around the World.

     Eleanor's fabric was really beautiful, so I made my strips a 1/2" wider, to show of the prints a bit better. As I, hoping  said above, Eleanor had already pieced one of the border sides. I was holding my breath, hoping that I could match it well enough. Thankfully, Eleanor kept all of the fabrics she collected for this quilt, together in a big box.

     So, this is the resulting quilt.

     Eleanor wanted to use some of the remaining large pieces of fabric on the back.

     I have know this child since before she was born. Since her parents were giving her a quilt, I thought it would be good to give her a couple of accessories to go with the quilt. I made a pair of pillow cases.

     I also made two throw pillows. This one was made from leftover HST from the border.

     And my favorite, this paper pieced pattern came from a book by Carol Doak called, 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars.

      Sorry that last photo not as clear I I thought it was. I don't have these items in, my possession any more, so I can't do a retake.

       So, that is what I have been working on much of the time during the last few months. Thank's for stopping by.