Lovely Rita – hard to say her name without the lovely.

Anyway, Rita had contacted me a few years ago to see if I would teach her how to make a Judy Niemeyer “Prairie Star”  I was teaching machine quilting classes at the local quilt shop but had not ventured into a piecing classes for quite some time.  She had also mentioned she was a new quilter.  My daughter-in-law and I had worked through Prairie Star a couple of years previous and I knew it was not a quilt for the faint of heart.  So I tried to dissuade Rita but pulling out my pattern notes and telling her how much fabric it took, then I told her how long it took us to cut out our Prairie Star (I know more tricks now and can beat the old time by a lot!) and suggested that Rita cruise the net and look for a different pattern, maybe even an easier JN.

She called back a couple of days later and said “Prairie Star” was it!

So I contacted Peggy at Pinwheels and Posies and we put a Judy Niemeyer Stars class on the calendar.  The class filled quickly and I can now blame my migration from longarm quilting full time to Certified Judy Niemeyer Instructor on Rita.  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE teaching and watching students projects come to life.

Back to Rita, so after she made Prairie Star she made Bali Wedding Star and from there she migrated to Flowers For My Wedding and that is today’s featured story.

Flowers for my Wedding ring quilt is a beautiful quilt designed to have multiple backgrounds and pieces together in a block format rather than in rings and rows.  Well, Rita was only using one background so we determined her assembly route should be more like Grandma’s Wedding Ring.  We used the specially designed Wedding Ring Templates to cut all of her ring centers and melons.  The templates were also used to trim up her paper-pieced arcs.  Then Rita squared her quilt up and added the borders for appliqué, but determined the appliqué might be more of an adventure than she was ready for and she decided to have me fill it with some of my quilting.  Noting that her granddaughter loves butterflies.  So off to the quilting frame I headed – I loved watching this beautiful quilt soak in the quilting designs I had chosen, I think it turned out beautiful.  I hope you enjoy

The beginning designs, before any background fill. I used a light blue for the feathers and butterflies. 

Now with a little background fill – which is done in white thread.

I love love love feathers in the wedding ring quilts!

Whimsical longarm style feathers meandering through the border, see the area with background fill and then the area that hasn’t been filled yet

And completion of the quilting

Ahhhhhh

And a little showing off from the backside – remember to click on the photo to see the detail!

This granddaughter will receive her wedding quilt in July.  The next granddaughter has already chosen a “Compass” style quilt – I can’t wait to see what Rita comes up with!

Lovely Rita – thanks for much for the not so gentle push into teaching – I am rewarding daily!  And thank you Rita for being a faithful student!  You are Appreciated!

Denise