Exception to the rule
When I first started patchwork my mother gave me one piece of advice - "Always create your own designs", her rationale behind this was that it would make me a better quilter as I would be more adventurous and creative. It is a rule I have generally followed, I may use instructions for a design of quilt or to make a bag but I always pick my own materials and sometimes make adaptations to the design as I desire. However, there is always one exception to a rule! And for me it was this brown and pink quilt ....
I saw the pattern in my mother's copy of the magazine British Patchwork and Quilting and just knew that I wanted to recreate it, just as it was designed with the fabrics used. So I borrowed the magazine and set about finding out where I could get the fabrics, not realising that if I had read to the end of the article it told me where to buy the kit! Fortunately I contacted the same supplier and started given measurements of the fabrics I wanted and the nice lady pointed out they did it as a kit, so I bought it.
The instructions were simple to follow and the 25 individual blocks were easy to construct as it was made up of squares within squares, soon I was ready to lay it all out and sew together. There were essentially 2 block designs that repeated in different fabrics to great effect.
My challenge came when I added the brown border around the sides of the blocks ... I had never done mitred corners before and there was no explanation in the instructions! This is when I found out about a useful resource from a friend at my quilting group - "In a nutshell" section in the British Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It has useful tips on how to do a variety of basic quilting skills and it appeared in every magazine so you always had it to hand. I am pretty pleased with how my first attempt turned out.
The quilt is a mainstay on my bed in winter, adding a very welcome extra layer of warmth!
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