Robyn Pandolph's Bespoke Blooms BOM

When we saw this quilt at Market, we were captivated. Robyn Pandolph's upcoming block-of-the-month, titled Bespoke Blooms, uses her own line Somerset Cottage, wonderfully light, airy and romantic. This quilt has appliqué in every block and finishes at 74" x 98.5". We are offering the pieced-border version, which has the buttercup yellow border as shown, and the program will run from October 2009 to September 2010. We asked Robyn about her inspiration, and this what she told us. I hope you enjoy what you see as much as we do and join us for the Bespoke Blooms BOM!

"Bespoke Blooms" was inspired by my visit to Southwest England in June of 2008. Martin and I traveled around Devon, Dorset, the New Forest and Somerset for about 5 weeks. It is a truly beautiful part of the country and the villages are full of history and character. We visited seaside villages and country villages, many of the homes are surrounded by my favorite kind of gardens, the English Cottage garden. These gardens, no matter how small the space, are filled with color, texture and inspiration.

Each of the twelve blocks have been named after one of the little villages (and some not so little, like Bath) found in Somerset. I felt that this was appropriate because the fabric line came from the same inspiration, Somerset. Each pattern gives a bit of history about each of these places, many of which I have visited myself, and it is interesting to discover that many of them have a history of textiles in their past.

The bespoke part of "Bespoke Blooms" is the fact that I designed each block uniquely in my own folk art look. I also added an embroidered crown as a type of "watermark" in the background of the block. This part, of course, is optional. My dad use to call me "princess" so I like to think that a crown is a part of my heritage and it is definitely an English symbol.

As we continue to travel along the canals in a narrow boat, I hope to continue to be inspired by the beauty of such a rich and historical land. You never know what might come next...

Robyn Pandolph
RobynPandolph.com