And back to something more quilty........

When my attention was drawn to this by Clare at Dordogne Quilter I thought what a lovely idea

But which quilt to choose - although not as prolific as some I have made a good number of quilts over the past 12 years or so

Each one I make tends to be my favourite at that moment in time

But I guess the first really big quilt I ever finished will probably be my all-time favourite

It was a wedding present for my brother about four and a half years ago

I asked him if he'd like a quilt for his wedding present and he reacted with enthusiasm

Knowing of his love of celtic knotwork made the design type a bit of a no-brainer

However his original colour choice of red knotwork on a cream background scared the life out of me, and him when I explained just how unpredictable red fabrics can be on washing

So we chatted round a few ideas and decided to go for cream knotwork on a pastel ground

108" square and three years later - the result..........

I have blogged about this quilt before - some time ago now - and here is my write-up about it at the time:

These two pictures show the quilt I made for my brother and sister-in-law for their wedding present in October 2004.

It measures 108" square and was machine pieced in space dyed cotton (some dyed by me and some bought in) with yards and yards of cream coloured home made bias celtic knotwork.

It took three years to make in all and I worked on it in three different countries. In the middle of its construction I had a serious illness which kept me off work for over five months and working on the coloured square blocks around the edges kept me sane - not to mention that, without that gift of time to work on it when I was fit for nothing else, I probably wouldn't have completed it on time.

The celtic knotwork is all hand appliqued and I wouldn't mind having a pound for each inch of it - I'd be one very rich girl!

The photos are taken in our local church as I didn't have a large enough floor area to lay it out otherwise.

Once I'd completed it I felt that strange feeling you have when your baby is born that you're not pregnant any more - a real anti-climax.

Sadly my sister-in-law's ideas on decor didn't fit at all well with my brother's choice for the quilt and, as it doesn't comply with with her choices of cream and taupe, it has stayed in a cupboard for it's entire life and never seen the light of day

In hindsight I should have asked her - but never mind, who knows, when the current fashion for safe neutrals eventually fades maybe she might bring it out of hibernation

This close up shows a little more clearly all the knotwork that went into it - every single inch was made of home-made bias tubing and every inch appliqued by hand. Each of those pink, lilac and blue outer postage stamp type squares set into the pale green border measures 12" square - so from that you can guess there is some yardage of tubing

My only real regret is that I quilted it in an allover lines and swirls type pattern which completely disregarded the knotwork - although I did include in that freestyle quilting their names and the date of their wedding

Should I have the opportunity to relive the process I would use the skills I've acquired in the subsequent years and probably quilt it to complement the knotwork

However it's been a treat for me to revisit it and I hope you've enjoyed it too