Country Cottage Quilting. Lynette Anderson

      Tip

      To ensure that the stitchery is centred on the card, hold the stitchery up to bright light with the card shape behind – you will be able to see if you have it in the correct place.

      Making the tassel and cord

      6 To make the tassel, cut a piece of card 1¹⁄₄in (3.2cm) wide. Cut petrol blue and ginger stranded cotton, each about 30in (76.2cm) long and wrap them around the card about twenty times. Slide the tassel carefully off the card.

      7 To make the cord, take petrol blue and ginger stranded cotton, each about 48in (122cm) long. Anchor one end of the threads under something heavy or ask a friend to hold one end. Twist the threads in a clockwise direction until the cord wants to double back on itself, but don’t let it yet! Thread the twisted cord through the top loops of the tassel, centre the tassel on the cord and now let the cord double back on itself. Hold on to the ends while it twists and then tie a knot at the end to secure the cord. Cut through the bottom loops of the tassel. Take a short length of thread and wrap it around the tassel about ¹⁄₄in (6mm) from the top loop. Secure with a knot and put the thread ends out of sight.

      Assembling the scissor keeper

      8 Take your four pieces of covered card and check that the glue has dried. Place the front pieces wrong sides together and glue together. Repeat the process with the two back pieces but first place the end of the twisted cord in the centre top between the two back pieces. You now have a back and a front for your scissor holder (Fig 2).

      Tip

      You could use washing pegs or bulldog clips to hold the scissor keeper layers together while the glue is drying, to ensure they bond well.

      9 Using two strands of ginger stranded cotton and herringbone stitch, join the front and back pieces together, stitching the seam of the top front edge of the scissor holder (Fig 3). Now join the front to the back, stitching all around the edge to finish the holder.

      Vintage Flowers

      Faded flowers mixed with antique colours give this lovely quilt and matching cushion a wonderfully vintage feel, although the design could easily be made from brighter contemporary colours. Little birds sitting atop wooden spools with pretty flowers give texture and dimension to the design.

      The sixteen-patch blocks in the quilt are made up of squares and are very straightforward to stitch. The placement of light and dark squares also creates a strong diagonal element to the quilt. The spool blocks are a charming combination of needle-turn appliqué, English paper piecing, yoyo flowers and easy stitchery, with the layout of the motifs varied over the quilt to provide added interest.

      A cushion project uses the same techniques, plus a plain border decorated with hand quilting, and would be a good way to practise the techniques before beginning on the quilt.

      Flower Spool Quilt

      This antique-style quilt uses soft and faded colours. Texture and dimension are created with English paper pieced hexagons and yoyo flowers. A fat eighth is approximately 9in × 22in (22.9cm × 56cm).

      You will need…

      • Cream fabric for background 1yd/m

      • Twelve blue and twelve pink prints, fat eighth yd/m each

      • Aged blue/grey print for appliqué birds 4in × 12in (10.2cm × 30.5cm)

      • Soft brown floral for spool tops 8in × 16in (20.3cm × 40cm)

      • Turquoise and blue wool for flowers 8in × 12in (20cm × 30.5cm) each

      • Mauve print for inner border 6in (15.2cm) (width of fabric)

      • Precut hexagons for English paper pieced flowers with ¹⁄₄in (6mm) sides

      • Stranded embroidery cotton (floss) – (I used Cosmo threads but DMC equivalents are given in brackets): soft charcoal (413), vintage brown (611), aged fawn (648), dark antique blue (926) and light antique blue (927)

      • Fabric for binding 2¹⁄₂in (6.3cm) wide × 160in (406cm) approx

      • Backing fabric 42in × 50in (107cm × 127cm)

      • Wadding (batting) 42in × 50in (107cm × 127cm)

      • Fusible web

      • Template plastic

      • Fine-tipped fabric marking pen

      • Light box (optional)

      • Glue pen (optional)

      • Tacking (basting) glue (optional)