Fair Isla Quilt

I'm sure Winter was warmer making this quilt.

I drew a sketch of a Fair Isle design in my grid book last year and then put it aside. It was a simple design, in just orange and white (the orange marker probably the only one that worked at the time!), and I wanted to mull over it for a bit, think about how to bring colour to it, how to use print, or whether to stick with solids. When I saw a reveal of Anna Maria Horner's Loominous, and it's almost solid, woven lines, I knew immediately it was the perfect fit to help me create that knitted fair isle sock look. I would have movement without the distraction of prints. I would have texture rather than flat cotton. For the first time since I started quilting, I emailed people, asking if they'd consider sending me a bundle to make the quilt, and I was so honoured when Free Spirit agreed!

I decided to make the most of my new EQ7 purchase, and transfer the design to my laptop. I enjoyed this process, but I often wondered if it was taking much longer. I took less risks than I was used to. I didn't dive in. I made sure it worked on the screen first. I kept swapping rows around. I doubted for a long time if I was going to pull it off, and I put it aside to start on Nana McIntyre for a while, so I didn't rush through to finish and regret it. I'm sure it made a difference, knowing that I'd been given the fabric. I made more rows than I needed to, and didn't use all of them. And in the end, I swapped out more for plain rows, because it seemed to make it warmer, and give it breathing room.

I used Essex Linen for the brown row of stars. I intended to use it more, with log cabins and also some applique flowers, but in the end, the log cabins distracted from it, and applique was a whole different head space, and I had enough to finish the quilt.

I loved the variety of making this quilt. It's like a sampler quilt, but I got to spend a little longer with each design. And by far, my favourite part was the hand-quilting. I had only planned sparse quilting, but the more I did, the more I loved, and the more space I wanted to fill with the thick crinkly texture of perle cotton.

I'm so, so thankful I was trusted with these amazing prints. They were such a joy to work with. It's so satisfying when a spark of an idea is met with the perfect execution. And even more rewarding when all that time, and doubt, and making sure, and mulling over pays off with exactly what I hoped for.