From my sketchbook: Rosehip

EDIT: You can now buy Rosehip as a PDF Pattern here or as a Paper Pattern here.

I mentioned earlier this year that I was planning (yet) another Arts & Crafts-inspired quilt and here it is: Rosehip. This design is one of those satisfying 'one block' quilts that, with a bit of tweaking to the background fabric and block orientation, creates it's own border.

The block evolved from the Pomegranate cushion that I made a couple of years ago. I was also influenced by Arts & Crafts tile design - tiles are wonderful inspiration for quilts - and the work of William de Morgan. De Morgan produced designs for Morris & Co. in the last quarter of the 19th century. In his Nine-Square Bough tile he adapted the motif of a diagonal branch with leaves and fruit used by William Morris in his Fruit wallpaper design. In turn Sanderson - the present day manufacturers of Morris & Co. designs - interpreted De Morgan's tile as a fabric ...and so we come full circle.

From tile to fabric: Morris & Co. Archive III collection

I've been making lots of blue quilts lately and I did initially think of drawing on the cobalt and indigo of De Morgan's tiles. But, as it was destined to go into an autumn issue of TQ, I went with a warmer colour scheme and used a Layer Cake of Strawberries & Rhubarb by Fig Tree for Moda Fabrics, taking out the greens and just using the corals, creams and taupes. I'm still tempted by that blue though...

As all the blocks are all, essentially, the same this is a wonderful quilt to chain piece. I took a quick photo with my phone to remind me which prints I'd paired up, put on my favourite podcasts (a new favourite is the A Quilting Life podcast) and sewed, sewed, sewed!

The block's diagonal motifs gave my quilt lots of movement which Jayne emphasised by quilting it with a classic, tumbling paisley. I tried something a little different with the binding on this quilt. You can see from the sketch that I had originally planned a soft red binding, but against the gentle colouring of the finished quilt it just felt too much, so I opted to use the taupe border fabric instead and love the simplicity of the result.

You can find the pattern in the September issue (79) of Today's Quilter along with lots of beautiful inspiration for your autumn sewing. It's time to cosy up!

Nicola xx