I have been doing a little poking around on websites and blogs about farms that have started to use their places as destinations for weddings or other functions.  This idea appeals to me because I have some event planning background that I enjoyed and because you can’t beat one more income generating avenue open to you.

I saw a photo during my recent poking, of a hayfield with square bales set up on either side of a wide isle. The bales had homemade quilts thrown over them for the guests to sit and at the end of the wide isle was an arbour and alter for the wedding ceremony.  I loved this photo. I loved this idea. The country, homey, casual atmosphere seemed perfect for an occasion held at the farm.

So, from there I started thinking about other considerations for hosting such an event. Where do your guests sleep?  What are the logistics for feeding a large group? Where and on what dinnerware? Entertainment?

I have a few places for guests to sleep this summer.  A small guest house will keep two comfortably, our travel trailer can sleep up to 12, but not that comfortably. The barn will be completed likely the first week of July and will have hot and cold running water as well as electricity, so we could set up a bunkhouse situation in there since we don’t have animals. Then there are always tents. I love tents. Not the nylon modern dome type but the safari canvas variety!! How romantic to see unbleached cotton canvas dotting the field with small campfires in front of them like a little gypsy village! Yes, that is more like it.

As far as dining is concerned, I figured pint sized mason jars will work nicely as beverage containers. I will need hundreds of them to put up food for winters, and they may as well double as ginger beer vessels until they are needed for their primary purpose.  Dinner plates and flatware, along with banquet tables, may be the things we need to rent for large parties, but if it turns out we are going to have a lot of them, I have found some great websites for wholesale or case-lot sales. The VV boutique for unmatched dinner plates is also a reasonable option.

Then we set up banquet tables, use the same bales with quilts for the seats and all that is left is the bountiful meal!

Our adobe oven should be big enough to handle a few roasts. If it can bake 16 loaves of bread at a time, beef and chicken should be a breeze. Huge vegetable salads and a campfire with a big kettle for ear corn; potatoes, boiled, baked or roasted in with the meats and we will have a feast fit for royalty!

From there it isn’t hard to imagine lanterns being lit, a few guitars and a banjo strumming, maybe a fiddle playing. The bales are moved to the outside and the dancing continues into the night.

Yup. That’s how it should go, and this was the original inspiration for my first quilt.

We have friends getting married in the middle of June. Coming up with the perfect wedding gift for these two was no more difficult than seeing that picture. A wedding with quilts, the very symbol of home and a life spent together in love embodied in that cozy home-made textile.  So I headed to the fabric store.

I love green, so I loved all these fabrics. Okay it might be a bit girly, but I thought the colours were rich enough to pull it off.

I have to admit, I have caught the quilt making bug. Next time I may try a pattern, since I think I made it a little harder on myself designing as well as sewing. Trial and error, mostly error, dictates that I not try to reinvent the wheel every time I try something new… or maybe I will do it exactly as I did this time, but with a little experience under my belt.

Bottom line is this quilt turned out okay and it was made with an original design, some pretty, complimentary fabrics and a whole lot of love so I will view it as a resounding success and try it again.