Downton Abbey Quilt

I bought a collection of fat quarters of the entire Downton Abbey line of fabrics by Andover.  It is actually based on the fashions of four female abbey characters. The Dowager fabric is grey, black and plum colours of paisley and brocade patterns. The fabrics representing Mary are a bit brighter. The fabrics for Sybil and Edith are very bright and bold with more modern designs. So there is a lot of variety in the collection.

I decided to use the Focus Pokus pattern by Swirley Girls Design for this quilt as I thought it would showcase the variety of fabrics in this collection. I cut it all out one day.  The next day I placed the big squares on the design wall and rearranged them until I got a pleasing and balanced feel. It took two days of sewing to get the entire quilt pieced. I will take the quilt top home to Manitoba and quilt it in the long arm sewing machine. 

The Downton Abbey collection

 of 34 fat quarters and the quilted bag they came in.

(I bought extra yardage for the borders.)

Here is the pattern I decided to use.

My initial design wall organization to balance colours and patterns.

Here each square's material and accent fabric (black) are added.

Now all the squares are sewn together, which adds the 2 1/2" black squares.

Here it is on a queen sized bed.

This picture shows the borders that were added that brings unity to the entire piece.