Wednesday 1 August 2012

A Brighter Life


Its nearly twenty years now since the paths of Mrs P and I crossed and she has from that day made my life a fuller place.  As I was recently visiting her after quite a long absence I thought I wanted to design and make her a quilt to mark this and the big part that she has in my life. I didn't want to do anything obvious by way of colour or design but wanted the quilt to reflect the uniqueness in which I hold our friendship. Something strong and fresh with a real brightness, because that it what my friend has brought to me. She has made mine a brighter life. Probably  in more ways than she knows.

It was hard choosing which fabrics to use as Mrs P has a beautiful and very traditional home, but I wanted the brightness and strength she always gives me to be the key elements. I took a very brave step and chose fabrics from the Lark range by Amy Butler at Rowan and whilst the colours are not ones you would find in her house they reflected the feel I wanted for the piece. The pinks and turquoises express the freshness of our friendship and the design is strong and makes you smile with its sunniness. (I decided it really would probably be used as a picnic blanket as it will struggle to fit in Mrs P's house, but I know how much they love a picnic so that seems a good plan too. Also it leaves me lots of scope for the future and something a bit more subtle. A cunning plan eh?)


To go along with the bold and brash fabrics I wanted to add a freshness and I always think white backgrounds look very stylish. This is the first word that springs to mind when describing my mate. She always looks so elegant and can carry a hat better than anyone else I know.  Its just not fair! So the mix of the white with the bold prints fitted the bill for me and the pinwheel blocks showed off the fabrics to a tee, keeping that crisp freshness that I wanted to achieve.


The quilting reflects the flowers of the backing fabric, which is called Berry and has a looping seed head effect which did not contradict the bussyness of the design. I had thought to do something much smaller but once I hit the long-arm machine this sort of evolved, which is usually my best approach. As ever I had some help and guidance from my friends at Beechwood.

To finish off the quilt was bound with a black, green and white matching pattern called Pitch, which again added to the freshness  of the quilt by it's contrast. All done and dusted then.

Mrs P and I met whilst watching our little girls at their ballet classes and now they are all grown, into two strong and independent women forging their lives thousands of miles apart.  Mrs P and I too have too many miles between us but I know that distance between true friends not a barrier. As we plan our next meeting I know my dear mate will be with me every day in her own way, brightening my days.

A Brighter Life, designed and stitched by Emily's Mum

 If you would like to make this quilt I have put the instructions on my Tutorials page, linked here.

23 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous.
    I just popped over here from Lily's Quilts.
    Happy to be your newest Follower.
    If you have time, please pop on over to my blog. I would love to see you there.
    xxxx

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    1. thanks Liz. glad you like it. I wil be right over for a peep.

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  2. Love the colours of the fabric you used. Stunning quilt.

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    1. thanks Mrs Y. Love your blog by the way. do drop by again

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  3. That's lovely. I really like the way the quilting accentuates the fabric.

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  4. I LOVE this quilt. So friendly and cheerful! And I love that it's going to a friend. I met my best friend almost 14 years ago, and I understand how wonderful it is to have that kind of person in your life. We also live quite a distance apart, but that hasn't stopped us from causing trouble! Now I'm feeling like I need to make her a quilt...maybe to commemorate 15 years of trouble-making? :)

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    1. I think we should continue to make trouble for as long as possible you know. :-)

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  5. thanks. It was hard to decide what was best

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  6. Thanks for dropping by my blog :) This is such a gorgeous quilt, I love how fresh and cheerful it is. I'm really desperate to make a quilt, I bought a book of beautiful patterns last year and have been putting it off again and again because it just looks so hard. I see beautiful designs like yours and just think how much I want to do that too! Any tips for how to go about your very first quilt?

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    1. you know, you could start with this. its really not that tricky, but i have usually suggetsed starting with a log cabin, as that is really rewarding. You will see in the little pile in this picture that i am a big fan. happy to help if you would like any coaching- or to quilt along.that might be fun for me to host?
      http://quilty-doings.blogspot.co.uk/2012_05_01_archive.html

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  7. That is such a beautiful quilt! I love the fabrics and the quilting.

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  8. I love how bright and fresh this quilt looks. I'm sure your friend will love it!

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  9. Visiting from Lily's Quilts...lovely quilt you made! The quilting is gorgeous!!

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  10. Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a comment :-) And yes blogging is certainly addictive! I find myself taking a million pictures of things from different angles and thinking to myself "this would make a good picture for a blog post!" Your brighter life quilt is just adorable!

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  11. Fab quilt, fab friend, feel more than honoured to have both.

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  12. Realy chuffed at all your lovely comments. Thanks guys

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  13. Beautiful colors in you pinwheel quilt.

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  14. This is a beautiful quilt for a beautiful person. You did a lovely job. Mrs P is a close and valued friend of mine too! In spite of the fact that there is an ocean between us, each time we meet or talk it is as if no time has passed even though it has been almost three decades since we met. We are lucky, you and I, to have had Mrs P come into our lives.

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