On our wedding day my Husband promised me that we would go to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary–and he kept that promise this past Feburary. We are a family farm in Iowa that produces hogs and grow corn and soybeans–so that keeps us pretty tied down–and we have never taken a winter vacation let alone one just the two of us–so this was really a treat.

I used the wedding search in Block Base and found these 2 Steps to the Altar blocks–I should back up here first–I didn’t know what I was going to design for this quilt–but found a backing batik with palm trees in a mauve and gray colorway–and that was our wedding colors–then I found at the AQS in Des Moines the luscious hand dyed gradations from Cherrywood Fabrics. After those two finds the quilt just came together like it was meant to be. I used leftover fabric that I had saved from our bridesmaids dresses for the backgounds of the Hawaiin applique blocks–which I only had EQ5 when I designed this–had the EQ6 in a box–but didn’t have it installed yet–was waiting to get my own laptop for designing.
I did the piecing at a sewing retreat and the quilting on my longarm–and had it finished 3 days before we left.
I sent it off the the MQS in Kansas City this spring and it came home with a Teacher’s Ribbon–that was too cool!!