Saffrons Blog

I wanted to create a quilt for an artist who appreciates the abstract. He has been a family friend for a long time, his first grandson was born last week so I happily sewed this quilt using all the inspiration he has offered me over the years. I thought I would share it as part of the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

a brief

Here's a brief outline of how it is made:

I started with cutting out 5 x 30cm squares of the Beetle Bugs fabrics. I then slashed the stack, shuffled the layers and sewed the strips back together.

I thought this was a bit stripey so I stacked all the blocks back together. Then slashed the stack again in angular lines and sewed each row together creating a wonderful abstract pattern, due to the very small pieces all this cutting created.

These photos of my design wall I took at night, which is usually the time I find to create, and am sorry they are blurry. I ummmed and aah'd about sharing them but I wanted to show you how I had a play with the blocks. Unsure if I would put some slashing around the blocks, I finally decided to make a full patterned quilt.

I had to make a few more blocks as I like the square shape once it was on the design wall.  So if you want to make one like this start with 9 squares of fabric and put them into two separate piles.

Sewing the blocks together was really interesting, as there was not a plan, I really enjoyed way the pieces came together forming irregular shapes. Due to using a small colour palette I think the quilt has a harmonious feel, which is nice for a baby.

Then I added another border with blocks using the slash and stack method being very careful how the red fabric was sewn together. The red creates a strong contrast and I only used it on the sides in the end.

Lastly I put a 4 inch border using seeded cotton around the blocks.

I used the Snails and Ladders as the backing fabric.

Finally I quilted this on the machine with variegated wonderfill thread, which is a bit thinner than Pearle Cottons. I sewed with a longer stitch than usual so you can really feature the stitching, it also  helps to soften up the feel of the quilt. The border I then hand-stitched with Pearle thread.

I am really pleased with the abstracted nature of this quilt. If I made another it would look different, which I like as it is a creative process every time.
My friend likes it too. He said stroking it "that would have taken a lot of time?" and I thought, well I designed the fabrics as well so yes, it took ages! Where actually it only took a few nights to make. Enjoyable nights too.

Happy Bloggers festival. Thanks for popping by.