Anna Maria Horner Charm Swap: Boho Road Trip

I reckon Anna Maria Horner (AMH) has a real knack for making gorgeous and colourful fabrics. Many of them remind me of modern bohemian styles that (as I've discovered by participating in Ms Midge's AMH charm swap) together combine to make what i reckon turns into a delicious, funky, almost folk-style quilt.

Boho Road Trip: A finished quilt top

Ms Midge's AMH Charm Swap:

It has been so much fun participating in the AMH Charm Swap organised by Ms Midge . It was such a great way to work with a designers collection of fabrics. Mostly though, i found it totally fun working out what to make with the charms that i thought would suit the collection and also seeing what other people design and come up with. 56 people participated in the charm swap and we all contributed 2 sets of charms from a fabric line each. That meant we all received 112 unique charms. 

While my quilt design was fairly simple, there have been some awesome and unique quilts made, very different to mine, despite being based on the same collection of fabrics (Visit Ms Midge's Charm Along to check some of them out).

Boho Road Trip:

After seeing the AMH fabrics, i wanted to make a something to showcase the fabrics and to keep in style with the bohemian vibes. Our family is fortunate enough to have a VW CamperVan (Transporter) that we use regularly to get away to the coast and take our travelling holidays in so I wanted a quilt to snuggle under on our road trips around the country. Something we could wrap ourselves in while watching sunrises and sunsets and while we watched for humpback whales as they migrate along Australia's east and west coasts. I wanted a quilt that would keep us warm while waiting for good surf on nippy coastal mornings.

I'd seen some lovely quilts made from charm squares, but never made one myself. I decided to make a quilt based on a disappearing 9 patch and thought the AMH fabric collection would suit these blocks well. The resulting blocks were really simple to make but I like the way that the charms aren't cut up too small and so some of the fabrics with larger designs can still be appreciated.

At nearly 2x2m, this quilt was a little on the big side for me to quilt on my Bernina, so I've asked Jeanette at Gone Aussie Quilting to quilt an edge to edge design on it for me. I can't wait to get it back!

Would i recommend participating in a charm swap?

I sure would! And i can't wait to do another one. I'm so thankful to Melissa for all her hard work organising this swap. Thanks Midge...you're the best!

Jen

Linking up with:
- Ms Midge for the Anna Maria Horner Charm-Along and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social and
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday

Chita Cushion Cover

While we were visiting family in Portugal last year, i picked up this great 'Chita de Alcobaca' fabric (read more about Chita here). I loved the unusual designs and the colours remind me of our visits to Portugal and the typical colours that make up the many decorative tiles, know as Azulejos.

While our Portuguese family are currently visiting us here in Canberra, i decided to whip up a couple of little cushion covers using the Chita. I made some piping using the Chita and some cord and added a covered zipper into the backing fabrics.

The making of the pillow was very simple, but i hate sewing in the piping around the corners of the cushion (they never end up super neat for me!).

For backing fabric on the first, i used a Chita (above), but for the other i used a fabric in the delicious blues of; 'Grand Bazaar by Patty Young for Michael Miller' (below).

One cushion is destined for our couch, but the other i've given to my Aunt Sue, whose birthday it was this week.

Happy Birthday Sue!