A New Quilt Project

Having spent almost two whole days pouring over my tax accounts, now that this year's tax return is all but completed and next years also well on it's way, I feel a sudden sense of liberation.  The cloud that had been hanging over me since the New Year has lifted and I'm itching to get on with other more enjoyable pastimes.

As a treat to myself, I decided to spend some time yesterday deliberating on what fabrics to use to make a double eiderdown/quilt for our bed.  I'd like to get straight on with this project, as if it does turn cold in the next month or so we will be able to snuggle under it at night and keep warm.

I made the mistake of taking a look at quilt designs on Pinterest and an hour later I was still trying to peel myself away from the screen.  Anyway, what my lost hour did bring home to me was that despite the hard work and creativity that goes into some of the more complex quilt designs, I find myself eternally drawn to the most simplistic designs I see.  I think this is possibly me looking for an easy life, but as a consequence, this quilt/eiderdown will be made in a similar vein to past efforts made up of strips of fabric.

As I'm making a double quilt I will need lengths of fabric at least 1.8 to 2 metres long for the width of the eiderdown.    This did limit my choices somewhat, as I could only use fabrics that I have at least 2 metres of for this project, so I proceeded to have a good sift through all my fabric stash to find appropriate ones.

I had already sourced a pretty backing fabric for the quilt, namely a vintage ditsy floral sheet, which  was purchased at a local jumble sale for pence and will do very nicely indeed. It is also going to double up and be used as a few strips on the front too, as it is larger than what I need for the backing alone.

The colour scheme is going to be blue and white, as I seem to have a preponderance of fabrics in these colours, blue is supposed to be a relaxing colour for bedrooms and good for helping to induce a good nights sleep and it also ties in quite well with the décor of our bedroom.   I'm feeling quite excited about embarking on this project as it is a relatively simple one and so very practical and useful too.

Here's a picture of some of the fabrics that I have sourced so far.  There may be a couple more additions or changes along the way, but these will give you some idea of what it might look like once complete.

 

In addition, in an attempt to cut down on waste and consumption, instead of buying some new wadding for this quilt I am hoping to use our current duvet which has seen much better days and really does need replacing, as it does not seem to keep us warm enough in the winter even with additional wool blanket and a handmade quilt on top!  I am going to wash it at the launderette first though.  We will then use the spare room duvet which was bought last year and is very thick and warm, until we get around to buying a new one, which will probably be in time for having visitors later in the year.

 

 

 

Just by way of an addendum to this post, Little Bird

has been busy working with some Fimo clay she got for Christmas this morning, and made this really sweet bag/phone charm.  I think it's really cute, but I would say that wouldn't I?