Now you will be inflicted with a lot of pictures of this quilt — this late, late quilt. But — I made it in under the five-year mark, so go me!
Do you know the Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure? Rosie, Sukie, and Deirdre sang this as the communion anthem during Nick and Natasha's wedding. (I wonder if there's a recording of that somewhere?) I thought it would be fitting to include a line from the beautiful text on the label for the quilt:
O Christ, be kind to your faithful ones/now gathered to bless you.
On the wedding day, listening to the music (which of course is in French and probably we didn't quite get it right then!), we think of the lines as indicating the worshippers gathered to praise God and receive his love. How blessed for everyone to be present on such a joyous occasion!
But I think it also applies to the new family as they go on in life; the couple who gather together for one purpose: to bless God in faith with their lives. It's a lifelong project, isn't it? In the home, we are gathered to bless him.*
As to the quilt itself, I am now convinced that I do not do “random” very well. My innate OCD wants to just die a little bit, every time I put one fabric next to another. It's hard on the old psyche.
Not to whine too much, but another thing that is hard is the blanket stitch in embroidery. Every time I want to use it I have to figure it out again, and then go on figuring it out as I apply it. So, halfway around the label I was still figuring it out! Also at the end.
But it was fun overall. It's colorful and bright, like their home.
But now I “only” have two more wedding quilts to go — for actual married children, that is! (I am assuming that my other children will not be getting married very soon, not that I would let this stop them. Except Bridget. This backlog and maybe other things such as being 17 should stop her.)
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*Tomorrow I will check in to begin a little series of discussions of what to expect in my book, The Little Oratory. If you have already received it, would you consider leaving a review on Amazon? We would be so grateful! Just say what you think — doesn't have to be long!
Kathryn says
The quilt is beautifully random :-). I can’t do random, either. Perhaps that’s why I have given up trying to quilt. We are still waiting on our wedding quilt too, except it will be 11 years next month since we were married!
Kate says
I think I might have a problem with random, too. It would use up a lot of my scrap fabric stash, but I haven’t attempted one yet. I think it’s a visual order thing. My sister made a baby quilt for my eldest 25 years ago and every time I took it out for the next baby, I thought to myself, “Those four squares should be over there, not there” and I’d rearrange the whole quilt in my head. Drives me batty! But it was a beautiful gift and I would never utter my criticisms to her. I think if I had a random quilt out all the time on a bed, I’d be doing the same mental fabric rearrangements every time I saw it. I don’t think I’m OCD, but maybe I focus too much on the trees and not the forest.
priest's wife says
I think you do random very well…one great thing about random- anything will go with it!
I am very excited about Little Oratory- I bought 3 copies and plan on starting a women’s prayer breakfast/book club (in September) with Little Oratory being the first book… I will probably steal some discussion points from the posts that are coming to write a study guide 🙂
Kathy@9peas says
I have the same response to random quilting squares – but honestly, the over all look of this quilt is very pretty! Yes, I will leave an Amazon review!
Kim F. says
I know nothing about quilting but I have to say that I think that quilt is gorgeous!!! Do the fabrics have any special meaning? Or are they random scraps of whatever fabric you had on hand? I do love when the quilts tell a story. Speaking of stories, or more importantly, books, I’m hoping that the package that arrived today for my husband is my copy of The Little Oratory. I’m so hoping to receive it for Mother’s Day. If this happens, I’ll be sure to write a review. A positive review, of course, because I can’t imagine not liking anything you’ve written!
Tori says
Random is so hard for me, too! But yours turned out lovely. I probably need to make myself try it one day. And you’ve inspired me to start adding labels to my quilts. How do you go about it?
I promise a review on Amazon as soon as I am finished. Only a couple chapters in, but loving it already. I even have a spot in mind for our oratory!
Rachelle says
The quilt is gorgeous! I espeically like the cheery green binding. Congrats on finishing it before their 5th anniversary! I’ve been working on a 60th birthday quilt for my mom and she turned 60…several years ago. Maybe I’ll just claim it was a 70th birthday gift all along.
I can’t do random without having a complete mental breakdown (It’s happened before. Not good. The near-finished quilt was donated to a thrift store because I couldn’t deal with it). However, I can do “random with a theme.” So, for my latest quilt, I pulled out stash fabrics that have a similar hues of green, purple, red, gray, brown, etc. Slighly autumnal but not so much that it prevents quilt use in other seasons.
Susan (DE) says
Thank you for sharing the lovely quilt. I like your colors, and I recognized that backing! I have a couple 1/4 yard pieces of near-related fabric like that — one with the color scheme but a different pattern, and one with that pattern but with a white backing! I had to go show my husband just to prove (to myself — he already believed me 🙂 ) I wasn’t crazy. It made me think — whoa, I should have bought THAT pattern. 🙂
I can only do a sort of “arranged random” — a true random would also drive ME crazy. But I can do a semi-random, making sure I’ve distributed my colors here and there — really, not very RANDOM at all. Best I can do! I start to do the other (real random) and very soon, I start to “arrange.” Just can’t help myself.
Congratulations!! Could you possibly hold the whole thing up and take a picture of ALL of it? 🙂
Lorraine says
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! A labor of love that will be treasured for generations.
And your daughters sing, as well! Is there no end to the talent in your family?
Love your blog. Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Lorraine
corina says
I love the quilt! It’s so bright and beautiful! And I can’t wait to receive your book, I have already ordered it but I think it’s not available in Europe yet.
Tamara says
Am I the only LMLD reader who ‘does’ random?! 😉 I love love love this quilt and want one as beautiful on my bed too! I need to learn to quilt.
Shyla says
Wow, gorgeous!! Such a treasure to receive!
Rachel says
The quilt is lovely. So is the Cantique de Jean Racine.
Wanda says
Oh I love this quilt!!! It has been a while since I have quilted and I do most of it on the machine. But you must tell me how you do your hand quilting!!
Julie says
I can’t do random or remember a blanket stitch, either, but your quilt is beautiful!
Natasha says
Thank you so much Leila! We absolutely adore our quilt — what a treasure! And the song verse is so perfect!!! Thank you for all the time and love you put into it. xoxo