Christopher's Quillow

Materials

Pure cotton fabric; cotton threads; polyester wadding (batting).

What was your inspiration?

Christopher, who is away at university, came home to find that I'd made a Quillow for his sister, Laura, and said that he'd like one too. His Mum said that she would provide the fabric from her extensive stash and, as Chris loves owls, she produced a huge bundle of "What a Hoot" fat quarters. On completion I felt that it seemed more suitable for a 9-year-old than for a 19-year-old university student, but Chris's Mum tells me that he will be more than pleased with it!

What are you most proud of?

Although the photos don't really show it, I free-motion quilted the quilt all over with a random ivy-leaf design. When I came to make the cushion pocket I fussy-cut four of the largest owls and made a little "window" with sashing to show them off. There was some fabric left over and I finally made little curtains around the window and tied them back with the orange ribbon with which the bundle of fat quarters had been tied up. I therefore wasted nothing!

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

The pattern is very simple - you make 9-patch blocks and then slice them across and down the middle to make the squares and rectangles (I think it's called "Disappearing Nine-Patch"). It's necessary to lay everything out in order to get the best possible final result and I found it easiest to mark each block with its position by pinning a piece of paper to each one with its row and number on it before assembling the quilt top to avoid getting in a muddle.