flying geese + feathers

This quilt has been a long time coming. Back when my husband and I got married, my dearest friend from my high school days gifted us with a beautiful, bed-size quilt. So when she got married in New York City last summer, I knew it was my chance to return the favor and make her and her new husband a quilt.

My friend loves purple (this wall quilt was for her), so I looked around on Design Seeds for purple inspiration. I wound up using this color palette to inspire my fabric pull. My friend had mentioned her love of Anna Maria Horner's feathers, so I knew I wanted to use those in the quilt. When I discovered how long it took to make each feather, and knew that I needed to wind up with a queen-size quilt, I decided to revise my plan a bit. I made stacks of feathers, flying geese, and half-square triangles, and then began piecing improvisationally, adding blocks of fabric as I went along to fill space.

The results were admittedly chaotic---so much randomness!---but completely different than anything I've done before.

Since it was so large, and I'd already done so much piecing, I decided to use a purple sheet for a seamless backing. I was pleasantly surprised with how soft it was! Lindsay of Eileen Quilts quilted it for me and I bound it with one of Carolyn Friedlander's cross-hatch prints. I added a hand-embroidered label with the couple's wedding date, along with a new leather Salty Oat tag.

I gifted it to my friend the weekend before last (over a year after her wedding---oops!), while visiting my parents in New Hampshire. The timing worked out well, since the changing fall foliage provided the perfect backdrop for photos.

a wedding gift

This past weekend, I finally finished assembling a belated wedding gift for some friends who were married this summer: a cocktail shaker and hand-embroidered cocktail napkins.

The napkins were made with a solid turquoise on the front, with a coral red running stitch along the border, and a blue and white gingham on the back. My husband picked out the shaker, which has a number of drink recipes along the sides. Hopefully both items will be put to good use by the new couple!

custom cross-stitch buttons

Custom cross-stitch buttons are back in the shop (I'm the proud new owner of my very own button maker!), and this past weekend, I worked on a custom order for an October wedding. 

In place of boutonnieres, the groomsmen will wear buttons with the first initial of their last name, and the groom will wear a heart. I think it's such a cute idea, and one I wish we'd done for our wedding (these were the buttons we gave to our guests)!

sewing project: handkerchief invitation pillow

A few months ago, a friend commissioned me to make a wedding gift for her friend, Annette. The gift was a pillow featuring Annette's wedding invitation, which had been brilliantly printed on a handkerchief.

Using fabrics that my friend had selected, I sewed together a button-back cover (this tutorial came in very handy) to fit over a fourteen-by-fourteen-inch pillow form. Since my machine is ancient, I borrowed a friend's machine to make the buttonholes.

I sewed the handkerchief to the pillowcase by hand, using embroidery floss that matched the yellow stitching around the edges of the handkerchief. I also embellished a few of the invitation's pink and purple flowers, using isolated chain stitches (my favorite part!).

It was fun doing a commissioned project, and after spending so much time with the invitation, I loved seeing pictures of the actual event--Annette's amazing-looking and craft-filled wedding (which can be seen here).

 

quilting project: hourglass quilt

Shoshone Point, South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Site of our friends' wedding

A few weekends ago, the husband and I flew into Las Vegas and drove out to the Grand Canyon to attend the wedding of two of our friends. The wedding was lovely (the Grand Canyon is a pretty spectacular backdrop for a wedding ceremony), and when we returned, I finished making the couple's wedding gift, which I gave to them this past weekend. 

Using Red Pepper Quilts' tutorial for an Hourglass Quilt (this is the second quilt I've made using one of her tutorials; here's the first), I created a lap quilt from scrap, thrifted, and new fabric. I decided to stick with a blue palette, which is both my favorite color for quilts and the couple's wedding color.

After about an hour of standing in the fabric store, holding the quilt top up against all of the cotton fabrics I could find, I eventually decided on a muslin for the back. The quilt is tied with navy pearl cotton and bound with navy bias tape.

On the back, I embroidered the couple's name and wedding date, and included a Salty Oat button.

wedding project: boutonnieres

First of all, thank you to Rachel for featuring my wedding quilt on the Craft blog on Tuesday! I'm so flattered! Also, thank you to everyone for their lovely comments, and welcome new followers!

Since a lot of the projects that I've been working on and photographing this week are for swaps (and I don't want to spoil the surprise for my swap partners!), I thought that I'd share another wedding-related craft project with you.

While planning our wedding (aka reading an insane number of wedding blogs), I came across these button blossoms on Martha Stewart Weddings and immediately fell in love with them. I made boutonnieres inspired by Martha's project for my husband and our justice of the peace to wear at our wedding.

I used fabric-covered buttons (this was my first time working with them) and flowers made from ribbon as my "blooms." The leaves were made with fusible interfacing and scrap fabric.

 Photo by Teresa Munisteri 

I really enjoy working with coverable buttons (as seen here) and have plans for cross-stitch pin-back buttons in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

wedding project: quilt

Photo by Teresa Munisteri

Before our wedding last August, I collected fabric from some of our wedding guests. In the months leading up to the big day, I cut the fabric into isosceles triangles using pinking shears, and sewed the triangles together to create simple bunting to decorate our venue, the Richards Free Library in Newport, NH.

Photo by Teresa Munisteri

On the day of our wedding, we strung the bunting up in the library's ballroom, where we held our ceremony, and around the tables of pie and lasagna at our reception in the Library Arts Center.

Photo by Teresa Munisteri

After the wedding, I started work on a wedding quilt, made up of all of the triangles from the bunting. The quilt came together rather quickly (if you don't count the time I spent ripping out a few seams...), and is an eclectic mix of colors, thanks to the variety of fabric we received.

Being the first quilt I've ever done on my own, it has some wobbly and uneven seams, and is a slightly odd, longish shape, but I'm happy with how it turned out. It now resides in our living room and is a nice daily reminder of a memorable day.

pom-poms and carnations

I am completely in love with, and totally impressed by, these ruffly fabric pom-poms by the vamoose. (Found via Greedy Girl.)

They remind me quite a bit of my handmade carnation wedding bouquet.

napkin rings by raedunn

I've been coveting these handmade napkin rings by raedunn for awhile. 

 

I think they'd make an excellent, personalized wedding gift, especially when paired with a set of handmade napkins.

sewing project: tissue holders

As a small thank you to the many people who helped us at our August wedding (by organizing a Sunday brunch, making whoopie pies, and lending me a sewing machine while mine was in the shop), I made lots and lots of tissue holders, using this great tutorial by Skip to my Lou.

It was an excellent project because I was able to use up a lot of scrap fabric and experiment with pattern combinations. I used Japanese fabric for a few of them, but didn't have a chance to photograph those before giving them away.

freya art and design

As one of our wedding presents, my husband and I were given money to purchase artwork. We chose to buy this print by the artist Freya, which we'd seen months ago on Oh So Beautiful Paper and really liked. I've since framed it using a frame I found at Goodwill and painted black, to match all of our other frames.


You can view more of Freya's work in her Etsy shop.

wedding project: brooch

Using ribbon, pearls, and remnants from my wedding dress's lining, I made this brooch for our ring girl to wear at the ceremony. It was a quick and simple (and last-minute) project and I was happy with how it turned out.

wedding rings

Here are pictures of my engagement and wedding rings. I designed them with Kate Szabone, a fabulous jeweler out of Canada. I worked with her through Etsy and scanned and emailed her sketches of the design I wanted. The metal is sterling silver and the stone is a diamond.
I'm really happy with how the set turned out, and I'm excited to finally wear my wedding band starting in a month and a half.

head gear

Even though I had a beautiful flower custom made for my hair (pictured above and patiently crafted by Kumi Middleton), I'm having second thoughts on my wedding day accessories. Here are some of the things I've been eyeing the past few weeks (both in and out of my price range).

First up is this super cute headband by Mandizzle:

It's $19.00 (with free shipping) and I'm looking into having the mint green band replaced with a yellow one, to coordinate with my yellow nail polish (that will peek out from my peep-toe teal shoes). But then again, the green is super cute. *sigh* I'm not very good at making a decision when the choices are unlimited.

I'm also totally digging this beaded and appliqued headband from Urban Outfitters:

It's $24.00 + $6.00 shipping = $30.00.

I also found a cute and simple headband with a ribbon bow at J.Crew the other day during my lunch break. It was around $20.00 and I wasn't sure if its light gray/silver coloring would clash with my ivory wedding dress. Alas, I can't find a picture of it on their online catalog, so I can't share. But I can share this uber-adorable belt from their site:

It's $35.00 + the ridiculous amount of shipping and tax they tack onto every order.

And tonight, I actually picked up this cute headband from Forever 21:

It was a whopping $1.50. Now that's I what I like to see. It's cheap enough (obviously) that it's not a big deal if I decide not to wear it to the wedding, and just wear it to work instead.

As you can tell, my tastes are kind of all over the place, and I'm not sure what look I'm going for. I also have yet to decide how I'd like to wear my hair for the big day, whether it be up or down.

love buttons

Most recently completed wedding project: pin-back buttons.


I pulled pages from a vintage Life magazine and an old Reader's Digest, cut them into circles (trying to avoid any anti-love, anti-happy text), and stamped them using a custom-carved heart stamp made by Olga of Cupcake Tree (whom I highly recommend). The museum that I worked at this past year owns a button-making machine, and were kind enough to let me use it for this project (I supplied the button materials). I'm hoping guests at our library-themed wedding will enjoy them.