Addicted to quilts

You know the story, a young innocent girl (use your imagination here) picks up a square of fabric and thinks 'what harm can it do? I can stop whenever I like'. The next thing you know there are quilts everywhere. 

Now, I've always collected quilts, they're all over my day bed, on my sofas and bursting out of my cabinet

but I never thought I'd make my own until I started looking for a project to keep myself busy in the Winter. 

Just to clarify for any horrified 'proper' quilters out there:

I don't enjoy following the rules so I love starting something and then making it up as I go along. I think it's very liberating creatively to have no idea what you're doing so you aren't scared to try anything and see if it works - maybe there's a life lesson here? The Zen of Quilting? So, this is just my own take on quilt making ;)

The first creation was a large checkerboard of toile and striped fabric with sashimi style embroidery around the outer squares.

It was meant to protect a chair from the fur babies but they just climb underneath it to sleep!

The next was a mix of pale scraps from my stash, 
some using the reverse side to keep the effect very muted

I loved using up pieces I'd kept for 'just the right thing'

Next was a lilac and white theme inspired by some embroidered lavender fabric I found…

I trimmed it in a lilac pom pom trim - very French…

The next batch of fabrics were all in peachy tones so…

lots of lovely shades

And finally (who am I kidding?) last week I picked up some vintage french fabric swatches (in the centre of this quilt) and used a mixture of white embroidered and cutwork linen and matching squares to frame them. 

The camera angle makes this look more wonky than it actually is  - honest….

There is also a mix of machine and hand quilting to define the patterns.

Lovely old french fabrics…

What next? well I've got plenty of fabric in the stash just waiting for the 'right' project and I can't stop collecting so I'm sure there will be more to come!
Thanks for reading x