Jo Avery – the Blog

2019 in Quilts and Embroideries (and a new quilt!)

And so we come to the end of another year, in fact to the end of a decade! I love to look back at all the quilts I have made over the last 12 months, it’s a great way to round up the year and get ready for the new one ahead.

What I notice most about this mosaic of 9 large quilts is the contrast in styles between traditional and modern. The main reason for this is that I work for magazines with differing aesthetics, but also my natural tendency is somewhere between the two genres. However when I view the quilts above my favourites are definitely at the more modern end of the spectrum.

You may also see a quilt included that you don’t recognise and that’s because a new issue of Today’s Quilter has just been published that features one of my quilts. Read on for more on this.

Meanwhile I thought I would produce two more mosaics for 2019, one for small quilts and one for embroideries. The small quilt one above includes my favourite quilt of the whole year – ’40 Layers of Quilting’, my quilt for the Spotlight at 40 exhibition for the Quilter’s Guild.

I plan to divide my time more equally between embroidery and quilting in 2020 though of course, as embroidery takes much longer to finish I may not produce that much more! This mosaic includes this leaf brooch that I finished just yesterday so it’s very up to date.

And now to that extra quilt…

Introducing my Cleopatra’s Fan quilt, which the magazine have named ‘Queen’s Salon’.

I am extra delighted that this quilt got the cover spot in this issue of Today’s Quilter, number 57!

Cleopatra’s Fan is a traditional design with an Art Deco vibe that requires templates due to it’s curved edges. I decided to update the design and make it much more accessible by straightening the edges and turning it into an FPP pattern.

I used fabrics from Liberty’s Summer House range alongside Makower Linen Texture fabric in coordinating shades. I think this gives it quite a sophisticated feel that would fit with a number of interiors.

I carried the fan motif into the free-motion quilting, creating this curved interlocking fan design.

If you like the look of this quilt then keep an eye out for a big quilting de-stash I’ll be doing in the New Year, as this is one of the quilts I’ll be selling!

4 comments

  1. I got the issue of Today’s Quilter with your Queen’s Salon quilt in it. Was there supposed to be paper templates with it?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.