Petit Fleur 'Liberty Belle' Quilt

When I first started sewing in 2012, one of my first fabric purchases was some yardage from Lecien's Petit Fleur range which was in print at the time. This beautiful classic line is a timeless collection of dainty florals and coordinates, with muted colours that are suitable for 'grown-up' projects as well as a more understated pretty look for a little girl's room. So I was super excited when Lecien sent me a sushi roll of the new Petit Fleur 2015 Basics to play with (by the way I really love Lecien's terminology for these rolls - so Japanese, and they do look like sushi, don't they?).

I decided upon this  jelly-roll sushi-roll friendly quilt pattern by the lovely Jemima from Tied With A Ribbon, which had been on my 'must-make' list ever since I saw it on the cover of Homespun magazine's November 2014 issue (which incidentally also had my Alice in Wonderland hoop art project in it).

Instead of the full size quilt per the pattern, I decided to make a lap quilt for myself, as the nights are still quite chilly here in South Australia where we live at the edge of a desert and I needed a new couch quilt to snuggle under whilst watching TV (and crocheting, of course).  I found the pattern very easy to follow and the quilt top came together really quickly. I normally plan the exact placement of my fabrics before I sew anything, but I was in a foolhardy mood when I started sewing this (could have been the two glasses of wine I had earlier that night? Ha!). So I just started randomly picking colours from the sushi roll that looked good together, and paired them with some Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Blend in Flax.

Jemima hand-quilted her original 'Liberty Belle' quilt, but not having her stamina (or patience) with hand-quilting I opted for machine quilting it in a simple grid pattern.

For the backing and binding I used some of my precious 'old' Petit Fleur that I was talking about earlier.

If you would like to make this quilt, Jemima has kindly offered to give my readers 15% off this pattern and everything else on her website and Etsy stores until the end of September. Just use the code 'DOWNGRAPEVINELANE' during checkout.

Meanwhile in South Australia spring has arrived (finally - it's been a long and cold winter!). People are going around in t-shirts and shorts already, but I am a bit of a wuss so I'm still wrapped up warmly in my jumpers. Our lavender and native daisies are in full bloom, and one of my rose bushes has buds on it, about to burst open. I can't wait for the warmer weather, even though it will give me less of an excuse to make quilts!