When my sister was planning her wedding, I offered to make her a wedding guest quilt. It may have been a foolish offer because I had never made one before and I had no idea how much work it would be.

For those who may not know, a wedding guest quilt is where the guests are asked to sign and put messages onto cloth that can then be used to make a quilt.

I began with some research. I found recommendations on the best pens and fabric to use and the best way to set it all up at the wedding.

I found some fabric that matched the colors of the bridesmaids’ dresses and decided to make half-square triangles so that we had some options for the final design of the quilt. I also ironed triangle pieces of parchment paper onto the back of the white fabric to facilitate a firmer writing surface.

After reading a horror story about how a quilter had to put all of the squares into a book instead of a quilt because writing had gone into the seam allowance, I also added “Do not write beyond this point” lines for the seam allowance.

After the wedding, it was fun to read what everyone had written. The drawings and signatures of the children were my favorites.

Finally, I heat-set the writing and we decided on a final design. I also added an embroidered square in the middle memorializing when this family was established. I longarmed it with the “Path to My Heart” pantograph design, which seemed appropriate.

My sister was happy with the result and I was as well, but of course, it all took much more time than I was expecting.