My sister Betty has a wonderful eye for colour and form, a skill that has been honed from her years in graphic design, so it is no wonder that each of her quilts have an organic, custom feel to them. Sewn patiently by hand, she uses her needle and tiny pieces of fabric like a painter uses a brush and oils, with spectacular masterpieces the end result. This is another one.
One of her great joys is repurposing items and this is a perfect example of her skill at it. It's made from old linen tea towels that she had collected. The panel above is only about one eighth of the quilt but you can see how she's designed it so that a huge bouquet of colour flows out from the centre to the edges and then is bordered with the yellow check design. There's another border beyond that but I don't have a good photo of it.
The aged linen gives it a wonderful, worn feeling and she has quilted it with a simple cross hatch throughout. It's a beautiful quilt but also a great snapshot of the tea towel genre, if you will - lots of interesting patterns and details to explore - everything from recipes to maps.
I can't remember, but I think that the large floral print is a cotton and not linen.
It could be just the time of year, or maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I'm pretty sure that I saw the word 'elves' in there....M
UPDATE: I was able to find a photo of more of the quilt so you get a better sense of the overall design, including the borders. It's a little fuzzy but you get the idea...M
