Author: Deborah McGuire

This quilt was a kind of 'accidental' make that came about one rainy weekend in November. Usually my quilts sit in the back of my mind for months or even years before they get their turn in the making queue, but this one came out of nowhere and somehow got made in record time, in… Continue reading The Hearts and Whiteleaf Cross Quilt

Of all the amazing, technically challenging quilts in the historic section of The Quilters' Guild Collection, I still find myself returning to the humble, simple, often wonky but charming quilts. One of my favourites is the Cumbrian Triangle Quilt. The original of this quilt is attributed to Bertha Mitchell (but may have been made by… Continue reading The Bertha Mitchell Quilt

At the start of 2018 I was involved in a radio programme for BBC Radio 4 called Moving Pictures by Cathy FitzGerald. This programme partnered with Google Arts & Culture to present ultra high definition pictures of works of art that can be examined online alongside the broadcast radio programme. The work of art for… Continue reading Inspired by Ann: Pictures of My World. The 1820s Applique Quilt

  This hand pieced clam-shell quilt was made over a period of more than a year, but the idea for it marinated for almost a decade. Back in 2010 I had been making quilts for several years and blogging about it since 2008, back when writing a blog about making quilts was a pretty niche… Continue reading ClamShell Quilt

This quilt is based on a quilt in The Quilters' Guild Collection called The Mary and Edwin Bloomfield Coverlet, named after the makers who embroidered their names in the centre. Image from The Quilters Guild Collection. http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk The original quilt shares this unusual layout of hexagon and diamond shapes and is surrounded by text panels,… Continue reading Bloomfield Coverlet : The Text Of Childhood

In the Quilters' Guild Collection there is a fascinating quilt called The Ladies Work Society Coverlet. This quilt was shown at the QGBI Conference in 2016 and its striking layout and unusual applique shapes stood out to me. I read about its background - a quilt made in the early Edwardian period by a group… Continue reading The Arts & Crafts Quilt

  Back in 2011 or 2012 when I had just started running my Patchwork and Quilting School The PlainStitch Workroom, from a tiny room above an estate agents in the village where I lived, I was contacted by a gentleman whose wife had been an ardent quilter and she had sadly passed away the previous… Continue reading The Dahlia Quilts

This quilt was made in the summer of 2016 in the weeks after we went to see Steven Speilberg's version of Roald Dahl's classic The Big Friendly Giant. In the film, as we sat in the dark cinema, it opened on a little girl, Sophie, asleep in her orphanage bed and draped in a tantalising… Continue reading The BFG Old English Frame Quilt