The Coast quilt competition winners

Coast quilt competition winner Carole Sinclair's quilt

The idea to ask Coast readers to design and make a Coast quilt came about, as the best ideas do, over lunch. Coast editor Clare Gogerty and Runaway Coast owner Claudia Lewellen realised that the magazine and the homeware store were a perfect fit, and that a joint competition to create a quilt would be a neat collaboration. Months later, the entries came flooding in, in greater quantities and better quality than we had dared hope. After all, we were asking a lot: to create a quilt from scratch and make it seasidey. Clare and Claudia co-opted professional quiltmaker Sheena Norquay to help with the judging and we are now pleased to announce the winner who will receive £1,000 to spend at Runaway Coast.

A big thank you to everyone who entered and who took the time and trouble to stitch up their own Coast quilt. You can see all the quilts that made it to the shortlist on the following pages (numbers at the bottom of this page).

Established in 2009, Runaway Coast is the first port of call for quality British design with a tang of salty air. Go there for coastal-inspired fabrics, stripy bed linen, kitchenware and bath accessories. Each product is designed and handmade in the UK. All items are available online at www.runawaycoast.com.

What the judges said...

Winner: Carole Sinclair The judges were bowled over by Carole’s quilt (above). Each panel was sewn from fabric, which she hand-dyed using the batik method.

Carole made this for her son’s single bed and it is her first ever quilt. She quilted it by hand and put the pieces together using the ‘quilt as you go’ method. She took inspiration for the design from her son’s ornaments and from her home town of Whitby.

The judges were bowled over by Carole’s first attempt at quiltmaking. Judge and expert quilter Sheena Norquay liked the way the quilt ‘has lots of block sizes and the way they are put together’.