The Green Gables Quilt

Does this ever happen to you - you see a photo on Instagram and you think - I NEED to make this? Well, this quilt is exactly that. Last Spring, I saw an image of a green and white quilt made by Amanda at a.crafty.fox. It was made as a St. Patricks Day quilt, but I was immediately struck by the freshness and clean lines of the green and white irish chain pattern. I book marked the photo and it lurked in the back of my mind for quite a few months. After I had finished my ‘Outlander’ quilt, which was a bit of an epic make, I wanted something more soothing and less challenging to have bumbling along in the sewing in the background to Christmas. I started piecing small squares in low volume fabrics.

This quilt is essentially made up of two kinds of blocks using 2” squares set in 5 x 5 squares but with the second block having a green checker board crossing through it. The low volume blocks were so pretty to make and an easy project to have on hand to just make a bunch up at a time. Chain piecing is king with this kind of project. When it came to the emerald green, I was surprised when I looked through my fabric stash and how few fabrics I had. Plain Kona of course, but actually a lot of quilting fabrics have that sort of lovely mossy, apple green tone and emerald was harder to find.

The randomness of the blocks is what makes them so lovely. It is a great way to showcase ‘tone on tone’ fabrics which often get lost in projects but are really so beautiful as a feature. As the blocks piled up and I started to put them together, I was quite enamoured with the project and it started to make me think of Anne of Green Gables.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Perhaps one of the most enduring Children’s Classic books ever written. Did you know that the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 -1942) first wrote the manuscript in 1905 but after failing to get it published, put it away in a hat box. Three years later she found it and decided to try again, whereupon it was published in 1908 and well… the rest is history. Set on Prince Edward Island in Canada, it is the most heart warming story of an orphan - her only possession being her ‘imagination’ which carries her through life causing trials and tribulations as she grows up at Green Gables after being adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. I should love one day to visit the Island and see for myself the literary inspiration for these books.

The 1980’s adaptation of the books starring Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie is for our household one of the most endearing tv productions ever made and it often finds its way on to the tv on chilly days and holidays even though my kids are grown up. So once this quilt project found itself christened, I really got to grips with it and it quickly assembled into a super pretty, very nostalgic quilt. One of the real joys of making a quilt like this is that you can just keep going until you get to the size you want. This is not all that big as it’s a lap quilt, but if you’ve got the fabrics it would be stunning as a bed quilt.

As it also happens, for Christmas, my girl got me the most lovely Japanese craft magazine which had ‘Anne’ on the front. I have long been an admirer of Japanese handicrafts and their minute attention to detail that makes even the smallest thing utterly divine. I do have quite a collection of Japanese sewing books and it doesn’t matter at all that you can’t understand a word of it - the pictures say it all. These types of books are easily available on Etsy (I will put a link below) and this one is the first ‘Stitch Ideas’ one I have and it is jam packed with all sorts of ideas, not just cross stitch, but embroidery and gift making too. It is rather odd how it reads from back to front but then again, that probably just adds to the charm of it. I was so inspired with the little embroidered motifs for Anne of Green Gables that I determined to make a label for the quilt. I had to use a magnifying glass to stitch this, but oh my goodness…how sweet is this….

I have gradually come to the idea of making rather special quilt labels but this tops them all so far. It couldn’t be more perfect and especially as I had chosen a vintage 1930’s ditsy print for the quilt back and suddenly it was all too delicious to be real.

Usually I deliberate for a day or two about how to quilt my projects but this was a no brainer. Straight diagonal lines were all that was needed, perhaps especially as the pretty fabric on the back reminded me of those old floral eiderdowns from way, way back and a criss cross pattern was just perfect to create this effect. It was very quick and easy to do and looked exactly as I had envisaged.

For the binding, I also didn’t really need to consider it for too long. A quilt made up of so many tiny pieces needs a strong border and there was only every one option for me - a solid emerald frame was all that was needed to hem in the design.

As a finished project I think this is the most wonderful little quilt, a mixture of old world charm, freshness and nostalgia. It is true, what they say, that what you read as a child, stays with you forever and these books are certainly firmly lodged in my heart and now I think so is the quilt.

It has been the bitterest winter I can remember up here in the Yorkshire hills and it has been so lovely to have a cosy project like this on the go. I guess this afternoon you might find me huddled under my new quilt watching Anne and Gilbert for the umpteenth time, but still being thrilled by the story.

For Japanese books on Etsy click here

To see Amanda’s quilt that inspired me click here (There is a pattern and kit available)