The following quilt styles are ideas for parties or even just a quilt of your own making - note that these are only preliminary photos - more complete ones are on the way - eventually!
Please click on any of the thumbnails for a closer look.
*Please note that these are samples only and that the colours and fabrics for your quilt will vary greatly depending on the source of the fabric and your personal preferences. The look of a pattern can be incredibly and wonderfully altered by simply choosing different colours and tones.
These are simpler than they look - the mock barn-raising block design is actually one of the simplest (see the thumbnail on the bottom right). The three designs here are pram-sized, queen-sized and cot-sized. Note the quilting design on the cot-size where the pattern continues into the border (second from right). The pram size allows for 16 people to participate, the cot size up to 64 people or up to 32 with each person making two blocks. The queen size one (top row, far right) was the first quilt I made and was a gift for my parents, it was almost completely hand pieced and hand quilted and took 5, very solid months to complete! The pattern for my Queen size quilt came from quilter Brigitte Giblin. I love her work.
A variation on the barn-raising design. The same block is used, but in a different configuration. This is a pram-sized quilt but it can be done in any size. The pram size allows for 16 people to participate, the cot size up to 64 people or up to 32 with each person making two blocks.
Again a simple block design - very easy for beginners. This is the single-sized quilt that started it all for us - it was made for our daughter Agatha and signed by all who contributed. Note the signed panel on the back. The single size allows for 20-24 people making 9 inch blocks to participate whilst the cot size allows also for 20-24 people making 6 inch blocks or you could make it with the 9 inch blocks and just 9-12 of them.
A variation on the nine-patch design, with the nine-patches positioned diagonally. This is a pram-sized quilt. It allows only for 4 people to participate but is very sweet. This example has additional hand-quilting in the corners. It's a little more complicated than the more straight forward layout of the 9 patch patterns above, but not super difficult.
A very popular design in the parties I've done for people although a little more difficult for beginners, since there is the tiniest bit of appliqué work involved in the heart-shaped blocks. As a lap size quilt it allows for up to 25 people to participate.
A more advanced design - best when you have some experienced quilters coming to your party who can help out! The results are well worth the effort, though. In the cot-size there are 10 nine patch blocks which are very simple. Then there are 10 more blocks which have simple corners which anyone can do as well as the more complicated appliqué hearts. In the single size there are 18 of each block. I am currently hunting through my magazines to try and find the original pattern so I can give credit to the talented person who designed this!)
(Using an Hourglass style nine patch block)
Quilt design possibilities:
I've designed these patterns using the hourglass block on my QuiltPro 4 computer program. When you move your mouse over the thumbnails you will see a descriptive title for each one. Please forgive the unimaginative descriptions, they just give us a way of clearly communicating which pattern you are interested in. And remember, any of these patterns can be done with different colours!
Diamonds and Crosses
Layers Upon Layers
Double Vision
Mirror Mirror
Various
If you are interested, the Quilt Pro Program can be purchased from the following Australian online sources:
(This is the company that I purchased my copy of Quilt Pro 4 from
and they provided excellent customer service.)
(Please note: I have listed these additional businesses only for your convenience. This is not a recommendation for these as I have not had any dealings with with them. If you do find yourself purchasing from them, I would appreciate any feedback/recommendations that you might have to be able to then share with others.)
Mock Barn Raising