I fell in love with Amy Sinibaldi’s new fabric line “Dollhouse” by Art Gallery Fabrics pretty much as soon as I saw it. Normally when I see a fabric line I like I cherry pick a few of my favourites and tend to just to buy fat quarters. This time I knew I would be buying the whole bundle!

It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do with the fabrics. I really wanted to show them off and get it right! Any fabric addict will tell you it is incredibly hard to cut into favourite fabrics. After much deliberation and some scrolling on Pinterest I had narrowed it down to a couple of ideas. I finally settled on a cross block, after all a keen cross-stitcher needs a cross stitch quilt! It would be a perfect block to showcase each individual print, it had only taken me about 3 months to decide!

After a bit of maths and figuring out I worked out how the block should go together. The process of making them was an enjoyable one, something speedy that I could see taking shape nice and quickly, which is always a bonus when making a quilt! If I had no distractions of life this quilt top would have been made in no time but alas I had many of life’s distractions tearing me away from this quilt, including other projects that needed my attention first.

Something I always seem to struggle with is deciding how to lay out my blocks, but having said that they are such pretty fabrics it really was no hardship!

I had given the quilting a lot of thought whilst making the quilt and knew that I wanted to really highlight the X’s rather than covering them in lines. I knew this would mean it would take a lot longer but actually I quite enjoyed the process. I did a lot of it in-between making the Bear quilt and the dreaded World Cup where I found myself so completely bored, but on a positive I enjoyed all the extra guilt free sewing time of an evening! The quilting was paused during the heatwave, with temperatures over 30C it was far too hot to be quilting.

As for the backing, well I’m not 100% happy with it, I searched and searched for the perfect fabric for sometime, and in hindsight I really wish I just splurged on the multi floral print from the Dollhouse line, I guess the reasoning for my I didn’t want the background to blend in with the front, now I wish I did.

I chose to use a light colour for the back mainly as my concern the darker thread may show through on the front and I didn’t want little dark grey dots on my white! Although I would have preferred to use a matching colour I do like the contrast and being able to see my hours of quilting work!

Oh how I wish I could take better photos of quilts to be able to do them justice. Unfortunately I live pretty much in the middle of suburbia and there is not a lot of scenic landscapes nearby! I’d love to learn how to, so if anyone has any tips please share with me!

Because the quilting is not so dense it makes it feel so soft and comfy! I cannot wait to snuggle under it with my cross stitch this Autumn. It fits perfectly in the living room and is already proudly perched on the sofa ready and waiting.

Fabric used:

Quilt top

• Dollhouse fabrics by Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics
• Kona Cotton Snow

Backing Fabric

• Michael Miller – Sassy Cats – Just Right Gray

Wadding

• Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton Blend

Aurifil colours:

2024, 2605, 2437, 2410, 2405, 2423, 5021

I absolutely loved making this quilt and am so pleased with the result, I am thinking I may have to make another in some different fabrics, but I have so many other quilts in mind, maybe I should start on those first!?