Autumn Garden Quilt

I spent the weekend in Derby with my 3 favourite girls!

My eldest daughter turned 21 at the end of October and it was so lovely celebrating with her in the most inspiring surroundings!

Autumn is such a beautiful season. But it's time to put on an extra layer, turn the thermostat up another few notches, and bring out the cosy quilts.

The November issue of Popular Patchwork is in the shops, and in it you'll find my Autumn Garden Quilt.

This is a small quilt (53" square), but I'm a little bit in love with it (I love curvilicious quilts)!!

For a while now I've been wanting to make the 'drunkard's path' flower, and I think the saturated tones of Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee and Shelburne Falls give these flowers a cosy autumnal feel.

I've used my trusty Essex Yarn Dyed linen (black) for the background and whizzed the fabrics through my Sizzix Drunkard's Path dies (657168 fan background & 657169 quarter circle).

And this quilt could easily translate into another season (think fresh Spring fabrics!).

I hope you are keeping warm and cosy this Autumn!

Happy sewing!

Jude xo

Woodland Friends Quilt

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm super excited to be able to show you some of my new friends!

This is my Woodland Friends quilt, made with Aneela Hoey's 'Foxgloves' & 'Vignette' collections on an Essex linen background.

It all started with a commission from Popular Patchwork to make an Autumnal/Woodland quilt.

Photo: Popular Patchwork

I found a picture of a fox and started drawing over it! And so 'Vi' Vixon was born!

But Vi needed a friend to play with, so 'Rusty Red' came out to play!

Now Rusty is a cheeky chappie, and he and Vi get up to all sorts of mischief. Especially when sleepy 'Flora' Fawn is trying to nap ....

.... and 'Boris' is busy sniffing and rustling out tasty treats on the forest floor!

'Olive', the great and wise overseer of the Woodland is tut tutting at Vi and Rusty!

She sends in 'Harriet' Hare, the only sensible fur in the whole forest, to keep harmony between the rascals, the nappers and the rustlers!

Order once again is restored and all the friends can enjoy the treats of the forest!

I so enjoyed designing and making this quilt. The characters evolved organically, and they have become like little characters to me!

I chose satin stitch applique for this quilt, using 'stitch n tear' behind the bondawebbed shapes.

Next came the tricky decision on how to quilt it!  I couldn't bring myself to sew through my cute new friends (I tried, honestly!).  So in the end I went for 'interrupted' vertical lines. 

And to top it all off, Popular Patchwork put my Woodland Friends on the front cover of the October issue!  Weehee!

I hope you have enjoyed meeting my new pals.  

And what would you think to me running this as an applique Quilt-Along next year?

Jude xo

Woodland Friends Quilt

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm super excited to be able to show you some of my new friends!

This is my Woodland Friends quilt, made with Aneela Hoey's 'Foxgloves' & 'Vignette' collections on an Essex linen background.

It all started with a commission from Popular Patchwork to make an Autumnal/Woodland quilt. 

I found a picture of a fox and started drawing over it! And so 'Vi' Vixon was born!

But Vi needed a friend to play with, so 'Rusty Red' came out to play!

Now Rusty is a cheeky chappie, and he and Vi get up to all sorts of mischief. Especially when sleepy 'Flora' Fawn is trying to nap ....

.... and 'Boris' is busy sniffing and rustling out tasty treats on the forest floor!

'Olive', the great and wise overseer of the Woodland is tut tutting at Vi and Rusty!

She sends in 'Harriet' Hare, the only sensible fur in the whole forest, to keep harmony between the rascals, the nappers and the rustlers!

Order once again is restored and all the friends can enjoy the treats of the forest!

I so enjoyed designing and making this quilt. The characters evolved organically, and they have become like little characters to me!

I chose satin stitch applique for this quilt, using 'stitch n tear' behind the bondawebbed shapes.

Next came the tricky decision on how to quilt it!  I couldn't bring myself to sew through my cute new friends (I tried, honestly!).  So in the end I went for 'interrupted' vertical lines. 

And to top it all off, Popular Patchwork put my Woodland Friends on the front cover of the October issue!  Weehee!

I hope you have enjoyed meeting my new pals.  

And what would you think to me running this as an applique Quilt-Along next year?

Jude xo

Bobbles Picnic Quilt

Happy Friday to you all!

We had gorgeous blue skies today!

Donaghadee Lighthouse

The perfect day for a picnic perhaps?

This is my Bobbles Picnic Quilt, currently featured in the August issue of Popular Patchwork.

I love jumbo pompoms (these ones are 20mm, available from Frumble Fabrics). 

This pattern starts off with 36 x 10" squares, so you could easily use a layer cake here. 

I've quilted the quilt with a calico backing first, then added the pompom trim and a water resistant back (washable shower curtain) using the 'bagging out' method. A few extra stitches in the centre of the blocks keeps all the layers neatly together.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get lots more 'blue sky' days so I can christen my picnic quilt!

Happy picnic-ing!

Jude xo

Summer Starburst Quilt!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Summer seems to have relocated around these parts, so in an attempt to bring you lots of summer colour and happiness, check out my Summer Starburst Quilt!

This started out as a 'scrap buster' project, after I got enquiries on how to use larger pieces of scraps (less than a fat quarter metre).

The design is based on the arrow-head block (half square triangles and squares), and you could easily change the colourways to suit whatever you have in your stash.

I really love the 'colour splat' effect from the rounds of colour - it makes me smile and think of a warm, hot summer (a girl can dream)!

This pattern is available in the July issue of Popular Patchwork, and it made front cover!! Woohoo!

Isn't the styling gorgeous!  Loving the cute bike!

So what I want to know is, do you like scrappy projects? How do you use your scraps?  And what's the smallest size you keep?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Jude xo