Bricks for Boys

Another quilt finished! These days, with my three days in the shop, I've been aiming to get a quilt pieced and basted ready to take home to quilt. Then I hand-quilt it in the evenings and rest times, hopefully done by the time I'm back at the shop the next Thursday for binding. Holding this quilt for me is the ever so lovely Janet from Cashmere and Silk, the shop next door to me. Janet has taught Fashion Design and Small Business Management at TAFE (College), and is so generous with her knowledge and experience. I feel like I have struck upon a gold mine! And, she's happy to hold quilts for me to!

This quilt actually started its life as a postage stamp quilt. I wasn't intending for the linen or brick pattern, but as usually happens with my quilts, as I was piecing the little squares together, I realised it was going to be a little small. You see, I never use maths before a quilt. Ever. And I could say it gets me every time, but I like to think that the changes I have to make as I go are all part of my creative process, and if I stopped to count or measure, I might never start cutting! I'm sure I'll regret it someday, but at the moment I'm having fun!

I used a collection of basic prints, gingham, stripes, plaid, dots and then added this Essex Linen in Flax around each rectangle (the size block I was up to when I decided it would be too small!) I backed the quilt with the same prints and added these anchors from Out to Sea.

I then hand-quilted around the bricks in green and teal. I really love the way the linen softens the quilt, but still makes it playful. After I finished, I loved it so much, I almost wished I'd made it single bed size for Tully. In the end, I decided to put it in my shop window, and in my Etsy store. Tully has a quilt that he loves and Evie is such a pink-frills-girly-girl (she didn't get that from me!) that she would snub her nose at it! She'd like the one I'm working on now. I'll show you photos of that when the weather clears up.
xx