A beautiful nature-inspired heirloom quilt pattern that combines English Paper Piecing in Liberty fabrics (but any quilt fabric can be used) with 25 hand embroidery designs. Full instructions are given for all the blocks and stitches, plus easy-to-use iron-on transfers. When finished, the quilt is 68 x 68in.

I am delighted to introduce you to my Alice’s Country Diary Quilt. This double-bed sized heirloom quilt comprises twenty-five beautiful blocks, each featuring a hand-embroidered design from nature, displayed within a circular patchwork frame created using the hand-stitched English paper piecing (EPP) technique. A further twelve half ring EPP border blocks complete this wonderful quilt. The creative journey for Alice’s Country Diary Quilt began during the COVID-19 pandemic, initiated by the more frequent local countryside walks I took during the lockdowns. I love wildflowers and thought I knew a fair few, until I started to really take notice of the plants in the hedgerows and woodlands of my surrounding area. I began to see things that were new to me, opening up a whole other world, one that had always been there but that I had never taken the time to see. I started researching plant names, finding out about their medicinal uses, learning which ones were edible, and discovering those that could be used to make natural dyes, which I also dabbled in. Our ancestors would have known all of these things as second nature, of course! This period of slow-living was not only the opportunity to explore the immediate world around me, but it also gave me the chance to re-engage with embroidery, which I had loved as a teenager. This mindful slow-stitching technique seemed to me to be the perfect medium for capturing my observations from nature, and so I began to develop a series of embroideries that celebrated wildflowers through the seasons as well as the insects that flitted around them. I have shared some of my field notes about the flora and fauna featured in these designs in The Embroideries chapter, and I hope you enjoy learning about them as much as I did! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey – let’s get started! The Tools & Materials chapter outlines everything you will need to complete the quilt, then turn to Preparing to Begin for what you need to know before you pick up your sewing needle, with advice on how best to approach the making of the quilt. There are dedicated chapters, too, on both the EPP and embroidery techniques, offering step-by-step advice for those who need it, and easy-to-use transfers are included for each of the embroidery designs at the back of the book so you can get started straight away. I am so excited to be sharing this with you!