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.