Iznik Garden Quilt

Tamsin Harvey began sewing at an early age and co-owns a quilt shop in New South Wales, Australia. She is also a pattern designer and her quilts have appeared in Quilters Companion, Australian Homespun, and Down Under Quilts. berrimapatchwork.com.au

Open up the card envelope and inside you will find a booklet and set of patterns.  This is all you need (apart from materials and tools of course) to make your own “stunning Baltimore Album-style project” based on Turkish Iznik ceramics and tiles. The beautiful project is depicted on the cover in white, blue and dark red featuring nine floral blocks.  Inside the booklet you can read a short history of the Iznik style with some photographs of examples.  Every panel and border section is named after one of the valide sultans, the powerful mothers of the sultans themselves or their wives and there is a short description of each woman.  The rest of the booklet tells you what materials and tools you need and includes a section all about raw-edge appliqué.  For such a complex and impressive looking quilt the instructions are concise and simple to understand, illustrated with photographs where necessary.  Everything is broken down into manageable pieces making it all seem fairly easy, although not for beginners.  There are colored diagrams of each block and border, how to assemble the quilt and even some ideas on what else to make with the blocks.  Not all of these are quilted either; motifs have been taken and stitched or painted as well as quilted and there are samples of bags, cushions and pictures.  I can imagine most quilters of improver level and up having a ball with this one.