Sunday 17 January 2010

the quilts I made for Christmas (well almost!)

For Christmas last year I made a quilt for my brother and sister-in-law.  This was much admired, has been used and washed and still looks pretty good (better, in fact, as I didn't pre-shrink the cotton wadding and it now has a lovely texture) even if I do say so myself.  My two twenty-something nephews loved it:: the elder,Carl, and his girlfriend Elise wanted to commission me to make one for them too; the younger, Gareth, said it was the "dog's b*******s" which is possibly the most unusual compliment on a quilt I've had.  Faced with such enthusiasm, how could I resist?  I'd always iutended to make them quilts anyway - just waiting for the right time.

The quilts didn't quite make it in time for Christmas: Gareth's was part quilted and bound so I was at least able to present him with it on Christmas morning, I reminded him of his previous compliment and said my provisional name was "The D's Bs" (I move in much politer circles than he does); his reply - "no, this one's The Mutts N**ts" and so that is what it will be called:



This is just part of the quilt: the detail tends to get lost in the larger photograph: individual blocks are made up of four chevron log cabins with different sized centres with the strips deliberately misaligned:

The fabrics come from across the globe, with fabrics from Zimbabwe (courtesy of Magie Relph).Gareth has a liking for interesting textiles so I thought these would add to his collection.  This quilt was real fun to make and went together like a dream: I have added more quilting but there is still a  little more to do.


Carl and Elise's quilt was also fun to make, and I was able to use a lot of the Kaffe Fassett fabrics I love for this one.  Originally I had planned to use the fabrics I bought from Aussie Dreams designed by Australian aboriginal designers (Elise is Australian), but I couldn't get theme to fit into the agreed colour scheme (sunset colours) so the next gift might have to be a wallhanging!



Of course Django had to get in on the act - he can't resist a camera - or a quilt!  The individual blocks are four-patch stars which make up a secondary design when they are put together.





The current title for the quilt is Southern Star (given the antipodean connection).  They haven't seen it yet - they spent Christmas in Australia at Elise's family home in the Blue Mountains where I trust Carl managed to cope with his spider phobia and Elise's nephews (and I'm still waiting for news of how they reacted to being given England cricket shirts for Christmas presents!).  They also spent last week in tropical Thailand and missed all that lovely snow - it's a hard life but someone has to do it.

If you've got round to reading this, Carl and Elise, welcome home and hope you like the quilt!

9 comments:

Maggi said...

Love the colours in the 'log cabin' and the patterns in the star quilt. What a great gift to come home to. Gareth certainly has a way with words - haven't hard those expressions in a long time.

Julie said...

Wow! They're both beautiful quilts Sandra especially all those wonderful fabrics in M's N's. The more you look at them the more beautiful fabrics you see. I'm worried now, you're making me want to make a quilt myself with all these gorgeous colours. Well done you! xx

Julie said...

Django is obviously giving it his seal of approval :)

Sandra said...

What a lovely combination of colours and fabrics!

Tiggy Rawling said...

My goodness you have been busy. Lovely quilts. I have on hold, well still thinking of design, a quilt for my first grandchild Benjamin. Really must get down to The Cot Quilt.

Love the ferns.

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Oh wow Sandra, your quilts are awesome! I loved your stories about the names of the quilts and had a chuckle too :o) I love the colours of the sunset quilt and I love the patterns and fabrics of the log cabin squares quilts. Excellent piecing! You are a star

Happy weekend
Carolyn ♥

mooch said...

You've still not produced a bluebell quilt Sandra. Tut tut :)

I hope all is well and that the cats aren't causing too much mischief!

sweetypie said...

ooh I love them both they are absolutely gorgeous definately a fantastic crimbo pressie

Margaret Cooter said...

The secondary patterns are what hooked me on patchwork, back in the traditional days - these both work really well. Inspirational!