I’ve never been into quilt making. Not to say that I didn’t like those pretty vintage French and Indian numbers that are often oh so very expensive but when I thought of quilt making as a hobby, I could only think of those horrible patchwork things. Needless to say that it really didn’t appeal.

Until I discovered Denyse Schmidt’s Quilts. They’re retro (but in a cool way) and simple. They also don’t look like they’d be stupidly hard and fiddly to make too.

This is one of my favourites:

It’s probably an obvious thing to most crafty people that you don’t have to use horrible combinations of chintzy fabrics to make a quilt, but I really was very blind to it.

It doesn’t help that it’s the beginning of the cold weather here (down South in Australia), but I have the worst hankering to make a quilt now. One of the local material stores have some rather tasty quilt fabrics including a lovely retro stripe that I think will do very nicely in strips with a dark blue or red fabric.

Though first on the to-do list will be to buy Denyse Schmidt’s Craft Book.

There’s also one based on Violet Beauregarde (Charlie’s Chocolate Factory):

I also love the Purple People Eater and Rosebud Lips. But my most wearable favourite is Moulin Rogue:

I wish that I knew about this place sooner… it’s been such a cold winter that I could have done with some lovely big colourful scarves. Will have to be super organised this summer and knit up a batch. Fortunately I’ve just joined a nearby stitch and bitch club to keep me motivated to finish my crafty projects (have baskets filled of unfinished stuff – it’s really quite shameful!).

See aren’t they just the best: