Dishes Quilt

I discovered this on Monday on the same day I found out I had won the Viewer’s Choice at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival (thanks so much to anyone who  voted for me!!)! What a happy day Monday was!!

I love the photography they’ve done of the quilt, it looks so cosy here!

The inspiration for the quilt came from the beautiful fabric it’s made with. This is Nostalgia be Jennifer Paganelli. I have always adored her fabric and used her previous collection Circa to make both my Gossip Girls and the Boho Pom-pom Cushions that featured in the Weekend Quilting magazine. Jennifer saw them there and asked if I would like some of her new fabric to play with. Obviously I said ‘yes please’!!

So she sent me a big bundle of Nostalgia which I absolutely love! Unfortunately Coats are not making this available to buy wholesale in the UK (boo!), so UK peeps will need to buy this from the US.

Hawthorne Threads have the whole line and I took the lovely mosaic above from their blog.

I wanted a quilt design that really showed off the fabric and gave room for the bigger floral patterns. I did think long and hard about this, until suddenly the shape of a bowl came into my head! I have always loved the look of repeated shapes in a row and this seemed a perfect idea to highlight Jennifer’s fabric.

And so the idea of a big crockery cupboard with shelves of dishes was born! I like to think of it as the Anthropologie crockery department come to life as a quilt!

Jennifer also sent fabric for a quilt backing, a beautiful design from a previous line. The background fabric is Manchester Yarn-dyed in Taupe by Kaufman. I love the look of it but it isn’t the easiest fabric to use for patchwork as it stretches! As always I used Aurifil 50 to piece and quilt, this time in a neutral shade.

For the quilting I wanted a simple, tight, overall design to give a nice crinkly texture when washed, so I free-motion quilted double loops all over.

I hope this quilt acts as I good cross-over between the modern and traditional quilt aesthetic, I like to think it could fit in both camps with a classic, elegant style – at least that is what I was attempting!

I’m still completely in love with the fabric which totally makes the quilt.

I still haven’t actually seen this issue of the magazine yet, but if these beautiful shots are anything to go by, it will be worth getting your hands on! Out in all good newsagents now, or check the website for great subscription offers!