Just for the joy of sharing

I hadn’t realised that the quilts with the ‘Joy’ labels and in the category ‘For the Joy of Sharing’ were quilts that simply want to be seen and not judged. What a great way for quilters to share their quilts, without the constraints around quilting style, or any other rules, apart from not being no more than 3 metres in any direction.

But don’t be fooled, these quilts were just as detailed and eye catching as any of the other quilts in the show.

A RAINBOW OF HEXIES, COLETTE DUNNING

These two had plenty of colour, and look more closely at the one above and you’ll spot plenty of English Paper Piecing (EPP) hexagon flowers, and flowers galore in the many sized squares below.

MY SISTER’S GARDEN, CLAIRE BAXTER

I liked the connecting hearts in this one, as well as the colour fade throughout the design.

ALL THE LOVE, K CARPENTER

FLOWER POWER, MELISSA ATCHISON

The fabrics in the Flower Power quilt above call to me, and the more I look at this one I alternate between seeing flowers and crosses, and I love how you can work out how it’s constructed.

These curve studies though are night and day, or rather day and night - aren’t they great?

CURVE STUDY, KAT MOLESWORTH

I’m in two minds about this one, it’s clever and there’s a lot of work in this but I’m not sure it’s a quilt I’d want myself.

DECONSTRUCTED TOILE, KARIN LISHER BRIDEN

Unlike this one, I love it’s bright sunny disposition - and I love the pattern too.

BARBICAN ON A SUNNY DAY, CATHERINE HUNTER

It’s the Happenstance pattern which I’m planning to replicate when I get around to my Jeans and pyjamas quilt. I know mine will look different to this, but I’m hoping that it will (eventually) look as good as this one.

If you enjoyed this post from my visit to the Festival of Quilts 2025 then please do check out my other posts from the show. Even though my mind was blown by the sheer volume of quilts on display, I’m pretty sure I’ll be going again!

Sue Jennings' Colourwash Quilts

As well as her amazing One Block Wonders, Sue’s Colourwash Quilts were also on display at the show, they too were quilts not to miss. As many quilters will tell you quilting projects generate a lot of scraps and Sue said she started to make colourwash quilts after watching technique videos online by the Canadian quilter, Terry Rowlands.

The quilts are perfect for using up lots of small scraps - which is the point in which I should stop reading (and looking) as this will only encourage me to save every last scrap, the challenge is though of course, where to store them and how to make them look as fantastic and as ‘put together’ as these by Sue.

Sue says she uses prints, solids, batiks, silk, wovens and in fact anything goes, and the only time she uses a ruler is to square up the blocks and the quilt, so everything can be rough cut, and any shape can be used.

This really isn’t what I wanted to hear!! But I agree and the lack of regularity makes the quilts more interesting and when Sue says it’s a joy to look at these quilts and remember which fabric was used in which quilt, I’m totally with her.

Her first colourwash quilt used all colours of scraps, and when it was done she wondered what was next. Let me tell you now, what came next was even more stunning, with her colour inspiration coming from artwork and photos, and you’ll see just what I mean.

ORIGINAL COLOURWASH, SUE JENNINGS

The inspiration for her Autumn quilt was the ‘wonderful fall colours’ she experienced while living for part of her childhood in Canada, and she thought ‘it would be a joy’ to recreate those using her scrap fabrics, and that resulted in another wonderful quilt.

AUTUMN COLOURWASH, SUE JENNINGS

WATERLILIES COLOURWASH, SUE JENNINGS

You’ll not be surprised to learn that Sue’s inspiration for the Waterlilies quilt was a photo of a Monet painting. It’s a vibrant but calming palette, and a fabulous quilt isn’t it?

SARIS COLOURWASH, SUE JENNINGS

The inspiration for the Saris quilt was photos of ‘beautiful bright Indian saris’ and Sue ‘particularly wanted to wash oranges, pinks and reds’ from her scraps. These are colours that I love together, though I veer more towards oranges and pinks with yellow, rather than reds - and this quilt does remind me of the colourful saris we saw women wear in India, particularly those when we visited a stepped well. The contrast against the natural elements was stunning, as is this quilt - and I think of all of Sue’s colourwash quilts, this is my favourite - which is yours?

Shared garden spaces and connections

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This garden, to give it it’s proper title - Family, Nature and Neighbours, had plenty to make me smile and plenty of inspiration too. It’s designed by David Blythe and won a Silver Merit award at the show and focuses on the connections we create with our families and neighbours through the garden spaces we share.

David based his design around the shared boundary, using the low dry stone wall filled with planting pockets and a fence with vertical herb planters, along with a wildlife highway.

I loved the idea of planting herbs in this way, though it’s not right for my current garden which is a shame.

The garden uses companion planting with pollinator friendly plants which helps to create a space where we can connect with nature using our senses - sight, sound, smell and taste are all covered in this small space, and it really does make for a beautiful border in every sense.

But it was the wildlife highway that made me smile; the hedgehog house and the hedgehog shaped hole in the base of the fence. I couldn’t help but chuckle though when I peered into the hedgehog house, which of course has its very own green roof!

The hedgehog wasn’t the only addition to make me smile, perhaps your garden already has lego figures in, or perhaps they’ll be something you’ll build into your plans for this year, who knows.

It’s great to be reminded of the connections we make with a space, and how we can share them - but most of all it’s great to be reminded that gardens are also places for fun.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.