What else do you do… other than knit?

I quilt. I haven’t done it in what feels like years though (other than a few commissioned pillows along the way).

But I’ve been playing with fabric and layouts for what will be Lindsey & Ben’s wedding quilt/chuppah. It’s going to be 60″ x 60,” which I read is the traditional size for a chuppah. Five of these blocks with a 5″ border on each side. The block is called Lighthouse Stars, which is cute because they got engaged on the shore of a lighthouse. I found these vintage inspired fabrics called “Old Sturbridge Village” – which is the reproduction village down the road from where they are getting married. I took this fabric, the color purple (their wedding color is shades of purple), and the block and ran with it.

Dan and I played with a lot of different color combos last night, and this was the one that worked the best. I love the way switching the darker value with the lighter one makes the quilt almost… glow. I love how the more modern look of the batiks/hand-dyed update the more traditional border. The very thin beige border is the binding, and the backing will be a slightly lighter shade of the binding.

The backing is going to be plain because they’re going to use the quilt as their guestbook! After the ceremony, they’re going to lay it out and have everyone sign the back, which I think is super cool. After the wedding, they’ll hang it on their wall with quilt hangers, and whenever they want to see who came to their wedding, they can just peek under it!

Another activity I do, other than knit, is perform weddings. Well, it’s more like “wedding,” and will probably stay that way. As a joke a million years ago, when Ben & Lindsey first started dating, and Lindsey was already planning their wedding, I joked that I should marry them – that is, perform the ceremony. About two years ago, briefly before they got engaged, I told Lindsey I was really excited to be her maid of honor – and she said she was really excited that I was going to perform her wedding ceremony. So basically, it’s a private joke that I can no longer trace the origins of too well that we’re actually following through with.

I’m very excited (and not just because I get to wear a green dress while the bridal party is in purple!). I’ve started doing research, bought a few books, and am beginning to put the ceremony together. In Massachusetts, you can be designated to perform weddings for one day – so that’s what I’m doing!

PS: Lindsey recently starting blogging, and you should go visit her!