The making of a quilt

I thought I would share the thought process that accompanies the quilt making. I may not be the right one and it may not be pretty but it is mine.

First of all you get the brief.  Really it is usually just a thought about what you might want to create. For this project mine was 2 quilts for 2 little sisters.Use what you have. Try to use up some scraps. Not too much white - the quilts will be going to the jungle in the Philippines. A pretty quick design - they're leaving soon. And even for the pattern - use what you have, remember all those great books I got for Christmas...

What I had was 2 massive peachy linen tablecloths gifted to me. I thought this was the perfect project as I would have enough for 2 quilt backs and the backgrounds for the front. I really wanted the quilts to look like they belonged together but not the same so they would be personal for each girl.

But peach?? - how to make that work in a modern way? It's not exactly my go to colour.

So I did my usual design. One colour with a totally different contrasting colour. Use a modern improv design. Ok, one quilt sorted. So how to make the other one different. This is where the totally amazing Design Seeds website comes into its own.I searched for the yellowy peach of my background fabric and found this great palette.

This is me totally out of my comfort zone now. Pastels? Could they work, or will it all just look a bit meughh.

So I just went for it. Pulling out all these colours and just hoping that when they where cut up they would look great together. I think the mink spotty fabric is the lifesaver here. Just enough contrast to give the quilt life.

I used a pattern from Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman only cutting it down to half the size to make a crib quilt. So what do you think? Did I pull it off?

I love the result! It was hard to give this one away. But it has the girl's name written on it so its fate was sealed.  Both quilts all mushed up and crinkly from the wash. Totally out of focus I know but as you know photography is not my strong point - especially using an ipad standing on the bed!

I had wanted to make them the same size but when I did by adding extra peach borders where necessary it just looked plain wrong. So I trimmed them back to their original measurements. 

And just a little shot of the backs.