I always like to open on a floral note–an anemone I photographed about 100 times trying to catch the incredible fuchsia color. Clearly, I’m having some colorful moments right now.
By day, I trade in words. I write articles for print and online media to publicize a company. It’s only when I write for quilting magazines (and the blog) that I get to show more of myself. This month, I scored a trifecta in the latest issue of The Quilt Life: an article, a styled photo, and a pattern. It’s a story, more a tale with a lesson, about sending boys off to college with handmade quilts–the vagaries of helicoptering as experienced by one dedicated, devoted, yet slightly deluded, parent. (My children, of course, would question the use of “slightly.”)
Usually my son’s feet peek from the bottom of my quilts in photos–this time he’s the main feature in shadow form. The article in “The Quilt Life” is about his (our) nearly disastrous college freshman move-in day.
The featured pattern is one of my favorite pared-to-the-essentials quilts. I like super simple designs in my own work and these days, with a mod aesthetic ascendant, that appears to make me surprisingly trendy. (Cough. Cough.) I’d opt for timeless. Actually, the original version is a two-color quilt in sunny marigold yellow and bright white. I keep on thinking I should bestow it as a gift, but I can’t let it go yet. As it turns out, that quilt is included in a featured post in the magazine’s blog Quilt Views. The Quilt Life’s iteration is made from two fabrics as well, but it looks like I went on a hunt for perfect value progressions in blue and black and then painstakingly placed them in my design. Nope. Just two Gelato Collection fabrics from E.E. Schenck. Isn’t ombré fabric magical?
The “masculine” version featured in the April 2013 issue of The Quilt Life.
An al fresco styled shot of the marigold yellow variation. Those juicy Meyer lemons are from Darra’s ridiculously abundant tree.
It’s the machine quilting of both quilts by the fabulous Deb McPartland that delivers a fillip of stylishness to the design. I never imagined that a wavy line paired with a stair step in a pantograph could deliver a textural element that would also play tricks on the eye. Deb told me I’d like the result and she was spot-on. The optical illusion is most apparent in the blue/black version, especially in the magazine’s flat shot.
Giveaway Winner Here
Clearly, Kaffe Fassett has fans out in the quilting world. Wow! My unscientific poll of the comments reveals that we LOVE his fabric and use words like vibrant, colorful, and cheerful to describe our passion for his designs. Some embrace his exuberant style, while others deploy his fabric in smaller doses. Whatever tactic chosen, we simply adore his work and are enriched by his designs in fabric and quilts. He’s truly fortunate to have such abundant fans and followers. Just a quick note, I used a Clearview Triangle™ Super 60 Combination Ruler to cut the triangles for my hexagons–boy do 60º triangles make rotary cutting life easier! And the winner is . . . Sandy, the March 20th birthday girl. Congratulations (& happy bday)!
p.s. I will share photos of the finished hexagon quilt, after Deb McP adds her special touch. Thanks for your kind words in the Comments–heady compliments indeed!
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