The Travelling Quilt

This is the quilt that Laura has been making that I promised to show you.

The quilt set off with them on their travels on Sunday. They will spend three months touring Europe in their prize possession, the red camper van, otherwise known as Bertie.

There were times when we thought she would be busily sewing her round way Europe instead of sight seeing as it just didn't look possible to finish it in time,but finished it is and it is fantastic!

A traditional quilter would hold up their hands in horror, the seams aren't turned under, they are all top stitched in different stitches, there is a whole variety of fabrics from wincyette to jersey to cotton. But it is a memories quilt, which will hold both stories of their past and all the tales from the travels. It will wrinkle when it is washed, and parts will fray, but that is all part of the charm. Some of the sections are made from old T shirts that neither would part with as they were long term favourites, old pyjama bottoms, old quilt covers and scraps from other projects. There are hand made embellishments such as felt flowers and birds and little appliqued people. It truly is a work of art.

I believe they are in the vicinity of Paris at the moment, trying to pack as much sight seeing as they can into a few days before the pace slows down to savour the flavour of true rural France, then Spain and Italy and so much more. They have their hand made journals to entrust all the memories to, of course, but I suspect the quilt will be the item that is pulled out many years from now, to remind them of the adventures they had in Bertie the van, discovering Europe