Today I am sharing what I made with Sedef’s of Down Grapevine Lane newest fabric collection – Fleur, designed for Riley Blake Designs. I think this might be favourite of hers so far!

I knew early on I wanted to make a quilt, and that the quilt blocks would be flower shaped somehow. I really wanted to showcase the beautiful fabrics in a big and bold way.

After some time looking at various patterns I couldn’t find one that fitted in with what I had in mind, so I decided to go with my own!

I braved Drunkards Path for the first time, and I found it highly enjoyable! Luckily I had an acrylic template that had come free from an issue of Love Patchwork and Quilting, this made it so much quicker and easier than trying to trace round paper templates.

The fun thing with a Drunkards Path block is the different variations and layouts you can go with. I spent quite a bit of time playing with ideas before finally settling on three curved pieces and a square to give it what I think looks like a petal. Each curved square measures 4.5″ with a finished flower block of 16.5″, which was a great way for really showcasing the beautiful fabrics.

For the background fabrics I went for a real mix-up of basics from Riley Blake Designs. Part of it was intentional and another part was trying to make use of what I had to hand. Thanks to Covid-19 things take a whole lot longer to arrive and I didn’t want to risk it not getting here in time. I’d like to think it was a happy accident, and I’m looking at it as a “Wabi Sabi” approach. So in no particular order I used – Confetti Cotton White, Pin Dot in Green, Texture White, Kisses White on White, and one of my favourites – Blossom Spring.

For the quilting I went with my current go to style, the faithful wavy line. I do love the finished look of this quilting, and the vintage wrinkly look that it gives. Plus it has the added bonus of not having to stress about getting the lines perfectly straight!

Of course I had to add some hand quilting and chose to go “Big Stitch” style. Again this was quite liberating just going with the stitching rather than trying to concentrate on getting the stitches perfect and small. I used Aurifil 12wt hot pink (#2440) and blue (#2730), unfortunately I didn’t have a purple Aurifil, so instead chose DMC floss 208 using 2 strands. I knew this already but it reaffirmed it for me 12wt is 100% easier and nicer to hand quilt with than 2 strands of embroidery floss!

To complete the quilt, a stripey binding! I can’t remember the last time I did a quilt without one! Gotta love a stripey binding! I was especially pleased with the colour choice of this one, a sunny yellow that seems to bring the whole quilt together. What I love about using Riley Blake basics with their designer fabrics is how well their colours compliment and match the colours the designers have chosen.