Patchwork & Quilting UK – July 2019

REGULAR // fi rst & last

78 British Patchwork & Quilting JULY 2019

I had always been a nervous and tense sewer. At school

I asked, and was allowed, to take my hand knitting. Hand

sewing appealed to me far more than using a machine. I have

hand stitched quite a few quilted projects and I also have

design and colour skills too.

Like many I came to quilting through sheer love of the

fabulous quilts I had seen. I remember my fi rst quilt I made

very clearly. Not only because it adorns my bed but because

I hung on to the fabric forever before I fi nally persuaded

myself that yes, I could quilt. The fabric had been bought

eight years previously and sat patiently waiting in the drawer.

We all know how enticing fabric can be and we just have to

fi nd a use for it. I read so many quilting books but simply

could not get to grips with quilting patterns at all. It was as

if they were written in some language I did not understand.

I can follow them now but write my own. I prefer modern

quilting to traditional as I also create textile work.

This month Karen Platt tells us her journey from knitting at school

to talking about colour and design at the Festival of Quilts.

FIRST AND LAST

Karen Platt

‘First Quilt’, Karen Platt,

Detail, ‘First Quilt’

It was such a relief when I fi nally decided it was time to use

that fabric stash. Like most of the other skills I possess, I am a

self taught quilter. It has been a huge learning curve but I have

so many good skills to share with other quilters. I had bought

Jelly Rolls, thinking this was an easy way to begin and one day I

just made a start. The colours were graded white to deep beige