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February 16 ~ Quilt of the Day
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Jeweled Squares in Blue |
We asked Cassie a few questions to learn more about her quilt. She writes, “What was my inspiration for the quilt? I started making the quilt somewhat by accident. A dear friend of mine had been invited to donate a square for a wedding quilt, and never having made a quilt before, she asked if I would show her what to do. At that point I’d never made a quilt before either, but I had been taught patchwork basics by my maternal grandmother way back when I was growing up, so I said why not? We decided that the simplest thing would be if we both made our own versions of the same square simultaneously — that way she could see what I was doing as I went along, but all her work would be her own. I had a copy of Kaffe Fassett’s Glorious Patchwork, and we decided to try a set of squares (one large and six small) from the quilt on the cover. I was secretly very excited, because I think I had been in love with that particular quilt since I was given the book as a Christmas present a few years before. Our two squares gradually came together over many food- and wine- and good talk-fueled evenings (we sewed them by hand), and then all of a sudden they were both done, and my friend sent hers off to be made into the wedding quilt, and I sent mine to my grandmother (she had it framed!), and then…we were both quiltless, and quilt-evening-less, and bereft! So we both decided to start our own, complete, quilts. And thus we, and two other friends who were excited to join the quilting bandwagon, were able to spend many more evenings sharing food and wine and talk and our handiwork.
My friend had actually become a bit frustrated with the log cabin style of the Kaffe Fassett quilt, so she picked a new pattern, but I loved it — loved the fiddly little one inch square pieces in the middle of some of the blocks, loved the way the blocks would grow almost organically, from the middle out, loved the seemingly endless possible combinations of colours — and decided to start fresh and make the whole quilt. Doing it in blues, rather than the reds of the original quilt in the book, was my husband’s idea, though I think he was thinking more just blue and white, like a delft plate or a liberty print. I went a little more crazy, and tried to get blues with sparks of other colours in them — they often looked a little weird in individual squares, but once they all came together I think the splashes of other colours draw your eyes around the quilt.
How is it used/loved? It’s my baby boy’s quilt. It didn’t start out as a baby quilt — I didn’t start out with any goal in mind except finishing it, preferably before the next millennium — but three years into it, I got pregnant, and it became clear that if I ever did manage to get it finished, it was going to be this baby’s quilt. I did finish it, just as my son turned four months old. He’s used it pretty much every day since then — he sleeps on it in his crib. I hope he loves it, but he’s only 13 months old, so he can’t really tell me yet!
Do I do a lot of work like this? I wish! You’ll have gathered from my long story above that this was my first quilt. It’s also the only one that I’ve completed. I have a king size one on the go, which is an experiment in machine piecing and hand quilting. Why? Because I’m all about the hand quilting — other than picking the fabrics, it’s my absolute favourite part of quilting, and I figured that if I machine pieced the squares I could get to the quilting sooner. I’m sure that just confirms how nuts I am, but there you are. The design of this one is also inspired by a Kaffe Fassett design, all in whites and creams, from his Passionate Patchwork book. It’s much more subtle and muted than the blue one, although it’s amazing how many different whites and creams there are. Not quite sure how the quilting is actually going to work, as I just have a small (but oh so beautiful) Jasmine hoop on a stand to quilt in, but we shall see. I’m also supposed to be restoring a colleague’s heirloom quilt — it is a lovely feedsack double wedding ring pattern that has seen the fort building and general tumbling of three boys, and is now in need of some TLC.”
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96 Responses to “February 16 ~ Quilt of the Day”
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This is fantastic!
this quilt is AMAZING!! how inspiring!
I love the map-like fabric that was used for the back of this quilt…she really did an amazing job with it!
I don’t normally “go” for blues. But this is so eye catching and texurally appearling! Very inspiring!
How beautiful! My heart longs for a new quilt!
Absolutely beautiful – I do love the bits of other color to draw your eye around- and it just looks like a quilt to run your hands over.
So beautiful!!
The colors of this quilt are wonderful! I love the idea of the border being made out of minkee.
That is absolutely gorgeous! I’m feeling so inspired!
I really love monochromatic quilts. What a great way to celebrate a favourite colour!
I’m amazed at how distinct the squares look even though everything is blue. Beautiful!
gorgeous quilt! I love the range of blues. And the story with it makes it more special. Maybe future quilts could have as much background info?
This is beautiful! I love this particular quilt in blues, and I do love what a variety there seems to be in the fabric.
Your quilt is simply beautiful. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
OMG! this is gorgeous! and to think it was all done by hand!!! WOW!
Oh how beautiful! Love the colors and design! Wow. Really… Just Wow!
Wow! This is one of my favorites so far. And I love that the back looks like a totally different quilt. Great job, Cassie!
beautiful!!! Sewing with friends is so fun and inspiring!
This is lovely. It reminds me of a crochet blanket called the Babette blanket (http://www.purlbee.com/babette-blanket-2/) with the different sized squares all jumbled together perfectly. I believe the babette blanket is Kaffe Fassett inspired, so I suppose that accounts for the similarity!
Wow, this is so gorgeous!
amazing!
Beautiful! I’m going to have to make a commitment to step away from the knitting and spinning and work on my quilt
I like the color blue, but I don’t have much blue quilting fabric. This quilt inspires me to get more! I truly love it. I think some patterns are almost easier handpieced and this is one of them. The quilting is very impressive – I looked at the close-up. I am also SO impressed by the perfect Minkee border!
love it! the back is fantastic!
STUNNING! All these quilts are making me want to take the plunge some day and make my own!
WOW thats amazing. how beautiful!
So beautiful!! And her first quilt?? Amazing!
What a fabulous quilt. Reminds me of the babette crocheted blanket.
That’s so gorgeous. I love the pops of colour. Great job!
I love hand sewing as well. So relaxing. What a gift she is giving to those around her!
This is gorgeous. I love all the quilting posts. It’s all so inspiring.
Oh, this is my very favorite of all the ones you’ve shown. This quilter has a great quilting career ahead of her, being able to see all of this on her nearly first go-round.
that is gorgeous! and so inspiring. the varying blues with the splashes of color really make the whole piece spectacular.
beautiful ! i love the colors.
That is so impressive!!
How beautiful!!! I love all the blues. Cannot believe this was done by hand…very impressive indeed!
Just beautiful.
I love the mix of small and large squares – it gives the quilt so much visual interest. How wonderful for her son to have something so beautiful to look at all the time.
I love this one! I just layed out the pieces of a quilt that is taking me forever but that I’m determined to finish this month. Inspired by the beautiful pieces I see here. So awesome!!!
Amazing. Love the blue with the flashes of pinks and orange.
Ohhhhh, so pretty! I’m totally a convert. When I first saw Kaffe Fassett’s books, I thought everything was too busy and bright, but I love how the strong geometric pattern organizes everything. This makes me want to try this pattern. And for those of you who want something similar but a little more subdued, try his Shirt-Stripe Boxes patchwork from his book Passionate Patchwork.
p.s. Would also be interesting to see this patchwork done in really pale colors.
The blues are so refreshing, cool, and inviting. Love it!
I can’t believe that this is a first quilt?? Its gorgeous! Well done!
Lissa
I think the “Jeweled” in the name of the quilt is quite appropriate! Very pretty.
Just fantastic! I love the blues and different sized squares.
-violet
What a gorgeous work of art. The richness of the blues takes my breath away.
Really stunning
I love the colors of this quilt! Some day I would like to make one. I think I would mostly use blues or greens for mine! Ahhh… I can imagine it now…
I have always loved Kaffe’s red version, being a ‘red’ girl – but this is truly stunning!
What a beautiful quilt! I really love blue! And your right the splashes of color do move your eyes around the quilt.
Oh My! This is simply STUNNING! And hand pieced! Bravo!! I love the colors and the use of the minkee for the border! Love it!!!
I’ve been saving blue fabrics for a quilt for… well, almost forever, it seems. I started trying to cut them for a mystery quilt, and it just didn’t work out but this quilt is very inspiring. I don’t normally like Kaffe Fassett’s stuff but perhaps I just hadn’t been exposed to the right parts of it before. Thanks for opening my eyes!
I really like the small block with the orange color–really stands out!
This is so beautiful. I just love the whole log cabin thing…it can be so organic and fun!
I love the story and the inspiration it gives me as a first-time quilter also.
Very joyful!
I love this quilt! it’s a masterpiece.
Impressive, inspiring, beautiful. I also loved reading the story on how the quilt came about. As mentioned by another commenter, it would be wonderful to hear this kind of background on all of the quilts!
Absolutely beautiful!. The different shades of blue are so eye catching!.
Absolutely gorgeous!
A stunning quilt.
I just came across your blog and spent waaayyy too much time looking at all the great pics. I have a huge pile of strips already cut for a quilt I’ve been wanting to get started on, but now I’m thinking I need to use them for a log cabin! I’m especially drawn to the courthouse steps layouts and have printed out the coloring page. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration.
As someone who entered the quilting world as a hand-sewer (and I still do it, often) – I’m always happy to find others who are like-minded. Love the colors. Beautiful.
This quilt is absolutely gorgeous. One of my favorites on Flickr! Thanks for showcasing it here.
Beautiful, wonderful fabric choices.
What an amazing first quilt…
Just when I thought it was all shades of blue, those bright, multi-colored fabrics popped out at me! What a beautiful quilt!
Spectacular. The color choices and pattern work so beautifully together. Kudos to you.
That is stunning, and the amount of hand-sewing in it is mind-boggling. That’s perserverance!
I’ve been a happy lurker until now, but this quilt and this month have brought me out! A fantastic first quilt, can’t wait to see what else you do.
this quilt is GORGEOUS – wow!
will you be writing anything about Dear Jane quilts? it might inspire me to keep working on mine that I don’t think I’ve worked on in almost a year – the last blog post I did about mine in progress is here: http://rivermade.blogspot.com/2007/02/dear-jane.html with my picture so far here: http://rivermade.com/dearjane/djwip.html
That is an absolutely gorgeous quilt.
That is an absolutely fabulous quilt, simply stunning
Wow that’s an impressive first quilt. Never would have known it was a first quilt by looking at it!
amazing….simply amazing. Love the colors and the detail!
That is gorgeous! Blue is my favorite color too.
I am in LOVE with this.
Oh I love love LOVE this quilt. It’s amazing and gorgeous! And completely inspirational, I SO want to actually finish a quilt of my own
Haha! The story behind this quilt is so touching and makes the whole thing even more special. thank you for sharing your story!
That is beautiful! I love blues! Great job!!!
It’s so VERY blue! I love it!
Wow! Well if you’re only going to get one quilt finished then this is the one to make! It is so pretty and I love the color. I love that she is now working on a king size quilt next.
This is one of my favorite Kaffe Fassett patterns, and I love her interpretation. Just beautiful. I’m sure her son will cherish it!
Just beautiful!!!
Wow, is all I can say. Cassie makes very good use of blue in this quilt. Wow!
What beautiful colors and fabrics … and I can’t believe it is both hand quilted and hand pieced! I personally love hand quilting as well, but I gave up on hand piecing about 12 years ago …
The quilt in the photo reminds me of a crocheted blanket a friend made. I can’t crochet, but I could make one like this!
All I can say is WOW!!
It’s a keeper, I am sure your son’s children will also sleep with sweet dreams under that blue beauty…
Beautiful hand quilting! You can really see it on the picture of the back.
Another example of an amazing first quilt!
Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments. It’s been an honour to be included amongst all these fantastic quilters, and I’m quite overwhelmed by all the praise! It makes me want to get back to my king-size quilt, which has been sitting neglected since my little boy was born. Thanks everyone!
I love this. I keep coming back to look at it.
Wow! it’s unbelievable that this was hand pieced.
This would be PERFECT for a baby boy!
Or an older boy… I wish I could make something like this for my brother! I’m sure he would love a brand new, boy-ish looking quilt! I have never really given him anything very special, except for a fleece blanket my twin sister and I made him. I would also love a new quilt myself! I have one that I have had since I was a baby. I believe it was my step sisters, from a garage sale, before it was ever mine. So you can imagine how worn it is! But it is the only blanket I will use in those hot summer nights! If I had a new, hand-made one though, I am sure it would be just as loved! 
I love these colours!
I’m really inspired to learn and be able to produce something so beautiful!
There’s far too much eye candy on this site