I Made A Quilt

Actually, I made this quilt before the summer holidays but now I can finally show you. It is in Issue Fourteen of Love Patchwork & Quilting which is now appearing in the post boxes of subscribers. So I can blog this -

I really struggled to come up with a design when I got this commission. Seriously struggled. And then I had work to do for my husband's and my company, and a holiday looming. I was falling into a blind panic. I rejected idea after idea. And my brain was having a major freak out thinking I was headed for failure.

So I came up with this idea, and chain pieced like a mad woman. I posted this to Love Patchwork & Quilting about six hours before we left for our Swedish holiday. I was more than a little relieved (as you can imagine), and happy too, because despite the panic and stress I am really happy with what I eventually made. The fact that the pattern does not fall on a 45 degree angle really appeals to me. As do the colours.

Photo on right by Love Patchwork & Quilting

This quilt was supposed to be for snuggling under as the days get darker and colder. With this in mind I backed it with a super soft, fine pink corduroy. It gives it a little more weight and ups the snuggly factor. It didn't make quilting it any more difficult than normal though. The photo on the left clearly shows the wavy lines I quilted it with. Despite them being close together the quilting went very quickly. (Maybe that was just the panic of the deadline driving me on.)

All three photos courtesy of Love Patchwork & Quilting

To go with the quilt were three accessories. A hot water bottle cover, a mug rug and a coffee cosy. All of these were made with off cuts from the quilt, but could be made as stand alone projects. The hot water bottle cover was designed to be pieced, rather than using a template. The HSTs that were used in two of the projects were off cuts from piecing the diamonds in the quilt top. I have a lot of these wee HST off cuts still. One hell of a lot. I'm just not sure I can face making a cushion cover from such tiny little pieces. They are destined to sit stuffed in a mug for a while longer I think.

Keeping projects secret is the hardest part of making commissions. I am so pleased to finally be able to show you this. Please remember that when I start humming and hawing and hiding things from you again. It is not by choice, but necessity and eventually I do get my ta-dah  moment.

Issue Fourteen is actually chock-a-block full of Christmas ideas so if you have started turning your mind in that direction and started making gifts then this is the issue to buy. I love the cover quilt myself. It totally works for my colour loving brain.

Susan