Favourite Quilts - Linking with Mary at Molly Flanders

A few days ago I read Mary's post on her blog Molly Flanders where she had been considering which of her own quilts were her personal favourites.  She asked readers to decide on their own favourite quilts ( ones they had made themselves, not other people's that they admired).

That made me think back over the many, many quilts I have made myself over the past 16 years. 
Five immediately came to mind as absolute favourites and several more as ones I really loved.

So, here are my Top Five Favourites and reasons why I love them so much.

1.  RAINBOW STRING QUILT

 

This was the first String quilt I had made although I had wanted to make one for a while.

I had a very personal reason for wanting to make a Rainbow Quilt, in memory of my dear son, but had struggled to think of how I could interpret the "Rainbow Theme".  Suddenly the idea for this quilt came to me.  It combined my love of colour, scraps and strings into one quilt which I felt spoke Christopher's name.

 

If you look closely you will see that I incorporated the ROYGBIV colours into the solid strips creating the diamond pattern within the String Quilt.  As there are 9 blocks I had to repeat the Red and Yellow solids in the corners which I felt balanced the quilt nicely.

 

The coloured strings are all made from scraps that I had in my stash and I restricted my colours choices to ROYGBIV colours.

 

I gave it to our daughter in memory of her brother and she hung it on the wall of her new baby's room along with some family photos including some of Christopher. Our little granddaughter loved this quilt from when she was just months old and loved looking at its brightness.  Later on she was able to look for colours and play I Spy too.

 

Since then I have made several String Quilts, one very similar to this original one but several scrappy ones including a couple made in the QAYG style. 

 

2.  SUGAR AND SPICE COT QUILT

A very special one as it was made for my Granddaughter. Our daughter didn't know whether she was expecting a boy or a girl but she wanted a quilt starring Sunbonnet Sues and Overall Bills as she had always loved these motifs on other quilts I had made.
So I made the Sugar and Spice Cot Quilt, very pink and girly with lots of Sunbonnet Sues and also another "Boy Quilt" which had Overall Bills.  As baby Annalise came along, Sugar and Spice Quilt was the quilt gifted to her.  It was used so much, washed over and over again and now lives on Annalise's bed at our house.

Two close ups of this quilt:

 

 

3.  WATERMELON STARS COT QUILT


This quilt was inspired by Gwen Marston's book Liberated Quilts. 
I loved Gwen's work and was lucky enough to attend a one day workshop that she gave at our Quilt Group in New Zealand.  It was a marvellous day, everyone had a wonderful time, free from the idea of being perfect and just enjoying colours and putting scraps together. 

The Quilt we made that day was a Liberated String Quilt and I have done several of these since as it remains a favourite pattern. But then of course I went on to try out lots of Gwen's Liberated blocks and made this Star quilt.
I called it Watermelon Stars because it featured a watermelon fabric which had languished in my stash for some time.  The quilt eventually was gifted to a baby born in New Zealand so it was apt that it went to the country where I first made a Gwen Marston inspired quilt.

4.  BRIGHT STARS COT QUILT

Again Gwen Marston Stars, this time in girly pinks and lilacs and gifted to my very good friend's granddaughter who was born a few months after our granddaughter.

5.  WHERE'S ELMER?

 

I originally made this Cot Quilt for another baby but loved it so much I couldn't part with it!  Another quilt was made for that particular baby!
So this quilt lives at our house and covers the doll's house when it is not in use. Annalise plays with it and when she was first learning to count she regularly counted the elephants and found the pairs with matching blankets on their backs.

It's still one of my favourite quilts for all sorts of reasons. 
It was the first quilt where I had set blocks on point.  Thinking about it I haven't made another quilt since using blocks set on point.  I shall have to rectify that!  I love elephants and these little elephants with their embroidered tails and 3D tassels appealed to me. AND it was a lot of work! Sometimes when you gift quilts the recipients aren't always aware of how much time and effort has gone into the gift and I felt this particular quilt should live here, where it was truly appreciated!

I have loved thinking back over the quilts I have made and have had great fun looking through my Flickr Photostream, deciding which ones to write about in this blog.

Like everyone else who quilts, each quilt is loved and each one has a story to tell. It has been great wandering down memory Lane.

Looking at my quilts and deciding on my favourites has pinpointed once again how much I love colour, scraps, strings, applique, and Gwen Marston -style Wonky, Liberated Quilts.

Thank you Mary ( Molly Flanders blog) for suggesting this exercise!