OAKSHOTT LIPARI & AN AUTUMNAL CANBERRA

I was lucky enough to be sent Oakshott’s Lipari collection to have some fun with.  I was so excited when the fabrics arrived and I got to fondle them.  I was really surprised by how lush the fabrics are. They’re so thick and feel so substantial, you just know they’re going to wear really well over time.

The colours are totally not something I would normally gravitate towards; they’re a darker palette that I usually work with. (I’ll freely admit that the colour palette freaked me out. I don’t have much experience working with darker colours and that was a little intimidating, but thrilling.) I immediately thought about making something that evoked an autumnal feel. I spent some time online researching different patterns and looking for inspiration. (Any excuse to get lost in Pinterest!)

Seems I wasn’t the only one thinking trees when it came to using this fabric collection so I decided to take a bit of a different tact.  I was inspired by Jessica Kelly’s (Sew Crafty Jess) Lucky Square Quilt to make a simple wall quilt that would showcase the colours of Oakshott’s Lipari.

This was the first time I made my own pattern for a quilt and I’m so pleased with how it turned out.  It’s such a simple but effective use of squares.

In a fabulous twist of fate I stumbled upon a linen at Spotlight that contained a metallic gold thread weaved through it; it was such a great compliment to the shot cotton weave. (It was also a bargain at AU$8 per meter!!)

The only downside is that both the shot cottons and the linen are really hard to photograph! The Oakshott’s Lipari was really fun to work with because it took me out of my comfort zone and made me think about colour in a different way.

Raylee from Sunflower Quilting did the quilting on this quilt and (yet again) she did an amazing job. Raylee‘s written about the process she used to work out how to quilt this to show it off in it’s best light and you can read about it here.

I think the quilting is really what sets off this simple patchwork and allows the Oakshott Lipari to shine. I love the replication of the patchwork and the way in which Raylee has used wadding and the abscence of stitching to really highlight the fabrics. It’s genius.

I took the quilt to the National Arboretum to try and capture the autumnal colours that are flooding our beautiful city at the moment.  I love the changing colours in Canberra and it’s such fun to have a good excuse to get out and about in them. Shame I wasn’t there the same day as Wills, Kate and George!

If you’d like to make your own creation using Oakshott’s Lipari collection you can order it here.  If you’d like to have one of your quilts enhanced with quilting by Raylee you can find her contact details at Sunflower Quilting.