Quillows have been featured in previous posts, but most were of polar fleece. I find quillow projects to be universally useful and always fun to make.
Recently, while plundering through my Liberty of London scraps, I was reminded of this little quillow.   It is currently  among the missing and presumed to be residing in the depths of one of my grandchildren’s dressers. An all-points-bulletin has been issued and I hope soon to have news of its whereabouts.
Some time ago, it was featured in an article I wrote for Creative Needle magazine. All of the photos and parts of that article are included in this post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A uniquely contemporary version of the Great American Quilt, a quillow is a small quilt which folds up into its own pocket to create a pillow. One of simple design, such as a whole cloth with no piecing, can be made in as little as three hours.
It is as pretty and practical a baby gift as it is a birthday present for a great-aunt. Kept in the car or stroller, it provides comfort for a sleep head and welcome warmth for an unexpected chill.
This quillow is a modern interpretation of American patchwork. It takes a whimsical twist as a faux antique when the pocket incorporates relatively sturdy antique AEsop’s Fables picture lace. It is machine quilted, using free motion techniques on curved patterns and the walking foot on the straight lines. The color has been greatly intensified in order to show the quilting more clearly.
Read AEsop’s  fable, “The Stag and His Reflection” to a nap-bound little one and the quillow pillow offers the illustration. Unfolded, it makes a wonderful nap quilt.
Commercial pattern books have several versions of the most common size, 45″ x 72″, made of calicos. “Celebration,” a quilt featured in Lullaby Quilts by Margaret Boyles was the inspiration for the pieced top of this heirloom-style 33″ x 45″ baby-size quillow.
The silky texture of dress weight champagne Swiss batiste, Liberty of London tanna Lawn, pima cotton and antique picture lace offer a special luxuriance to this little quilt. Because very few Liberty prints have a truly white background, the champagne color works perfectly with it. The solid rosy pink is pima cotton.
It is my great hope that a variety of antique picture laces will soon be posted in my long-awaited and much delayed on-line “store” at this web site. If your interest is more immediate, please inquire.
With or without picture lace, a quillow is a great project.
2 responses to “AEsop’s Fable Quillow”