Laura Ashley mini quilt 4

Very quick post today.  This is the latest in my series of tiny quilts using a scrap of Laura Ashley fabric.  It’s in the top right hand corner and was used extensively for soft furnishings in trendy houses in my youth.  I have used a gauze over it, and a fine (purchased) cotton hand-dyed, I think, with onion skins.  Over the top of that is quite a bit of embroidery with wonderful variegated perle cotton from Winifred Cottage.  I will be stocking up on more of these lovely threads when I go to the Festival of Quilts in August.  They last forever and are excellent for hand stitching because they slip through the layers effortlessly.  The rather splendid beaded and embroidered flowers on a chiffon ribbon are from a shop just off Oxford Street which is full of students buying tiny amounts of the vastly expensive but irresistible braid and other trimmings.  The staff are gloriously off-hand and impatient with people who are paying through the nose for this stuff.

Again, the combination of these pieces make for a very antique-looking final product.  Incidentally, I did most of the stitching on this while watching the coverage of the Glastonbury festival on the BBC.

Here’s a detail of the gorgeous braid:

Laura Ashley mini quilt 4 - detail

You can also see the fly stitch, the herringbone stitch and the colonial knots, as well as the machine quilting with the newly serviced Bernina.

I am still working on these pieces, and am really enjoying the small scale which can be finished in an evening, and the antiqued colour scheme which is very unusual for me.