Guild member Anne Gosling shares some of her work from a recent miniature quilt exhibition, ‘Inspirations’, along with a selection of other pieces she has made as a member of the Miniature Quilt Special Interest Group.

In 2013 I won the Montague Patchers Christmas Challenge. The perpetual trophy is a miniature quilt made by founder member, Maureen Hoyle. I thought I would try to make a replica of Maureen’s quilt using my own colourway. Nine hundred and thirteen quarter inch hexagons later, this is my tribute to Maureen.

Jacquie Harvey designed the quilt below for the Miniature Quilt Group to help with the group’s fundraising. The kit was available for sale by the group at a cost of £15 but if you joined the group at a cost of £10, the kit was free! Needless to say I joined and have remained a member. Making the piece was a steep learning curve as it was my first miniature, first time working on silk, first time using backstitch quilting but I really enjoyed it and have gone on to make further miniatures and used backstitch quilting in other projects.

The Miniature Quilt Group issued a challenge to make a piece 3” x 6” on the theme of ‘Flowers’ as part of a four part round robin. A second challenge was issued to make the same piece again and make a further three pieces based on the first piece. The idea was to compare the piece made by four different people with that made by an individual. I used my favourite Deborah Kemball flowers, reduced in size which was a challenge in itself! The pieces were beaded together to give the impression of individual beds in a box garden.

The piece below was started at a workshop with Judith Dursley in York before the Museum closed, so several years ago now. The tree blocks are foundation pieced by hand and then put into a quilt with sashing and borders done by machine. It’s machine quilted.

Next up is a strippy round robin organised by the Miniature Quilt Group members within Region 13. There was a theme for each strip. I made the diamonds at the top and passed that on to the next person on the list who then made a strip on the theme of appliqué and attached it to the first strip before passing on. This continued until all the members had made a strip. It was then returned to me to finish as I wished.

The final piece was started at a Miniature Quilt Group residential weekend with Judith Dursley. The title of the workshop was ‘Fifty shades of Green’ but by the time I’d finished I had 70 shades in mine! The technique for the background is Paula Doyle’s mini mosaics and the stars are English Paper Piecing. 

When I joined the Miniature Quilt Group several years ago, I had never made a miniature quilt but was keen to learn and to have a go. During my time as a member, I have entered challenges both as an individual and as part of a group as well as attending workshops and residentials. As a result, I have learnt a great deal, completed several miniature quilts and most importantly made many new friends! 

Anne Gosling

Miniature Quilt Group member