Dreamtime Quilt | Quilt Now, issue 8

As a quilter, I can't think of many things more rewarding than seeing your quilts in print. Having one of my quilts featured in a book or magazine allows me to share my work with quilters from all around the world, and I get the warm fuzzies thinking that I might be delighting and inspiring others. And when it's not just a quilt but also an original pattern of my own -- one that others might also choose to make themselves -- it makes me downright giddy.

Recently, I've been fortunate enough to have a few of my quilts featured in an exciting and relatively new publication, Quilt Now magazine. Based out of the UK, Quilt Now is helmed by my quiltsister Katy Jones as editor and recently celebrated its first year in print.

Earlier this year I had my first quilt featured in issue 8 of Quilt Now.  Each issue of the magazine centers around a theme, and the theme for the eighth issue was "monochromatic quilts". I have kind of a love affair with grey prints, so I set about making quilt top with a scrappy mix of a wide variety of grey and white (aka "low volume") fabrics.

The quilt ended up being quite large -- nearly king-sized -- but I wanted to add a little something extra. I drew some simple jewel and gemstone shapes, made cardboard templates, and cut them from a mix of brilliant pink & regal purple solids. Inspired by the design of Casey York's Apiary quilt pattern, I arranged the shapes in the center of the quilt, forming a circular focal point. I fused them down and used a raw-edge appliqué technique for an easy finish. It was finished with some AMAZING quilting by the AMAZING Trudi Wood. (Thanks again, Trudi!)

I named this quilt "Dreamtime" because of the juxtaposition of the calming and relaxing grey background and the vibrant jewels that appear, as if part of a dream. Who wouldn't love to dream about being covered in jewels?  :)

Big thanks to Katy and the great team at Quilt Now for featuring the Dreamtime quilt! I hope you'll check out their gorgeous magazine and let me know if you decide to make a Dreamtime quilt of your own.