There comes a time in our lives when we’ve had enough of things, when we’ve been around long enough to know that the acquisition of more and more stuff does not bring with it any degree of happiness.
(And God forbid that this should ever happen to me).
Red Nanny had reached this stage and, while it was a laudable place to be it didn’t half make things difficult for her family when it came to birthdays and Christmas. Well, one day last year she happened to say in passing something along the lines of “I like quilts. I’d quite like to have a hand-made quilt.”
Her daughter, Olivia, the wunderkind behind the rather addictive www.theendofthenew.com (what will she wear today?), then asked me if I might make her a quilt for her birthday. I do love a commission and I brought a basket of fabric scraps to her home to see what grabbed her.
“Can you make it red? She loves red.” she asked.
“No,” I said, “that’s too obvious, too shouty.”
A few days later I bumped into Red Nanny picking up her grandchildren from school and I heard little Manu asked his grandma what her favourite colour was.
“Red,” she said, “followed by green” and I marvelled that Manu even had to ask. Red Nanny, I should explain, is red through and through, in her politics, in her shoes and in her choice of hair colour.
Red, it was. Who was I to impose my tastes on someone else and, in fact, I love predominently red quilts and have made a few in my time. This quilt became one of my most enjoyable commissions because it would never have occurred to me to make it for myself. I could go to town for Red Nanny. For inspiration, I was indebted to Jenni Dobson’s book 20 Quick and Easy Quilts, specifically for the Liberated Log Cabin pattern. What better way to capture the chaotically colourful look than to use a great scattering of red, green and brown scraps.
I’m told the birthday presentation was a very happy one.
Red Nanny's mainly red quilt
A previous red outing - the red stars quilt
thatpatchworkprinciple 