Dashwood Studio and Anna Graham - a match made in heaven

I get excited  by new stuff.

This week cartons of fabric from Dashwood Studio arrived - lots of lovely yardage from the Paper Meadow and Altitude collections. Altitude is the debut collection from Pippa Shaw, and Paper Meadow has been designed by Jilly P.  Its the first time I've stocked Dashwood Studio fabric -  I was impressed by the lovely fine weave and wonderfully soft and drapey hand.

Perhaps it is the heatwave we are experiencing  on the east coast of Australia - but I just couldn't help myself from diving in and starting a new project with some of those serenely cool blues and teals.  

As luck would have it I've recently added Anna Graham's book Handmade Style to my personal library. (Its full of great projects including, garments, quilts and of course bags.)  If you aren't following Anna on Instagram, then you should be.  Her handle is @noodlehead531 She designs the most stylish bags around and her patterns are fantastic.  Her free open-wide zipper pouch tutorial is a standby  for when I want to whip up a quick and practical gift.

While I'd love to offer the Handmade Style book, as a small shop I just can't compete with the big book sellers out there, but the good news we have a tonne of Anna's bag patterns on order and due to arrive shortly.  Watch this space - better yet, sign up for our newsletter!

Back to the book and those new Dashwood Studio prints though...

I settled on Anna's Picnic Plaid Quilt as the large crosses looked perfect to showcase the prints I had selected.  I decided to team them with Kona Snow and a pale mustard.  The mustard fabric is a yarn-dyed chambray by Andover Fabrics and it brings a subtle texture to the party.

The quilt was a dream to make.  Super easy cutting and strip piecing meant that I had the throw sized top finished in an afternoon.  

I just love the secondary plaid pattern created by the white and mustard.  

I've been pressing my seams open for the last few years.  With this project it really makes those large crosses pop right out at you as there is no distracting shadow or bump through the joins in  the chambray. 

Now I might just treat myself to a pedicure (avert your eyes from those toes) while I ponder quilting options.  Random width cross hatch perhaps? .....