Patrick's Qullt May 2015

Of course, once Bernie's quilt was done it was clear  a lap quilt for her partner Patrick was necessary too. This one did not require quite as much effort as it was a quilt top I had made some time ago from some beautiful batiks that I bought in the United States. I love the combination of blues and browns in this quilt.

 In the photo above you can see clearly the pieced border. This is a great way of using up leftover fabric. Each piece is the length required for the size of the border. In this case, 4.5". Whilst all pieces are the same length you can vary the width of each piece to get some variety into the piecing.

 The label for Patrick's Quilt.

 Border and block details

Close-up of the batiks used

Bernie's Quilt April 2015

Bernie is visiting my family from the United Kingdom for a couple of months. I thought it would be fun to make her a quilt. She enjoys those bright pastels which are so much fun to use in quilts. She carefully chose those prints she liked and we decided to do just a very simple basic block quilt. Using the simplest block possible is a good way of showing off colours and textures without the distraction of complicated designs. We chose many of those beautiful Kaffe Fassett prints in clear fresh colours. Bernie loves her quilt and there were enough blocks left over to make a couple of cushion covers.

 Bernie arranged her own blocks into a pattern that she liked. She watched carefully as I sewed them up and noted the way quilters organise the blocks. She pinned the blocks together with help from Fadia in our craft group "The Yarnspinners".

 I'm not good at zips so I put buttons and buttonholes on the back fasteners for the cushion covers.

 Here's the label. I am convinced that these add the final luxury touch to a handmade quilt.

The backing was a cotton poplin in that sweetest of blues with a light touch of green. It was a foregone conclusion that Bernie would want to make a quilt of course, so she made a doll's quilt for her granddaughter. She will return to the UK enthused about making more quilts.

Valentine Table Runner March 2015

This little table runner caught my eye online. In general, I  don't use hearts frequently in piecing or quilting but I liked this little block and thought it made an attractive runner.

 View of the whole runner

 Handquilting with embroidery thread highlights the theme.

 Attractive enpoint end using one heart block

 Hearts along the sides