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COUNTRYSIDE QUILTING l delightful daisies
to look like stems or stamens and even a hedgehog in
the second quilt. When the Heartswood fabric arrived
in the shop soon after, I just knew how I wanted to
use it. When I first started the quilt, I was slightly
nervous about tackling white appliqué on a coloured
background and initially tried a very light stabilizer
which didn’t work. From this, I learned that, at the
end of the day, as long as you trim the fabric neatly
when doing the appliqué before turning it under, the
e ect of the daisies will be very pleasing. Some of my
students, who don’t want to spend the 900 odd hours
of appliqué it takes, have used bondaweb and then
either straight stitched around or used blanket stitch
on their machines which has also worked very well.
I love hand appliqué, but never want students to feel
under pressure with the time that it takes – we all have
busy lives, and each person has to find the right route
for them. It is so important to make sure that quilt
making is a pleasure in our slightly chaotic world, and
not an extra burden.A stitch in time
Owing to the time required for carrying out hand
appliqué, I decided to make what I call a ‘quick fix
quilt’, which I have now named the Daisy Eiderdown
quilt as it feels so lovely and cuddly on the edge. This
quilt starts with 5 x 5, 10in squares sewn together
with a ric-rac filler and then an 8in border. I machined
down the raw edge daisies using double fabric to make
the daisies stand out – these have had extra wool
batting sewn behind and trimmed near, like trapunto.
I then hand stitched the centre so that the quilt wasreadyforquilting.Becauseof theextrabatting
behind the daisies, the quilt came out more like an
eiderdown when it was quilted. I didn’t particularly
want any quilting in the border so that it would turn
out to be soft and comforting – it has come to be a
really popular quilt. In fact, so much so that I decided
to create a version just for To d ay’s Q u i l t e r readers
called Daisy Eiderdown in pale blue shades, so you
could have a go at this fun technique for yourself!
Turn to page 60 for the full tutorial.
At Cowslip, we have made many di erent versions
of daisy cushions and it seems never ending. From
big, squashy cushions to small piecrust pin cushions,
the options are endless, and I always love seeing
what di erent students come up with. By the time
you all read this article, I will have had my four day
quilt-a-thon and I just have to say a huge, huge thank
you to absolutely everyone! I will make sure to put
some pictures in a future issue. We have a wonderful
selection of blocks from all around the world, and
I have now started to sort them with the help of
some friends. I hope we can make plenty of quilts
for St Petrocks. Again, a big thank you for all your
wonderful support – now, its back to the sewing, and
one more daisy...Happy quilting
Jo xFor more information about Cowslip
Workshopsandto booka placeon
oneof itsupcomingclassesgoto
http://www.cowslipworkshops.co.uk7XUQ WR SDJH
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