"What Would Kaffe Do?" is the name of this quilt. I had pulled Kaffe fabrics -- oh wait, I call them Kaffe fabrics, but they include Jacob, Brandon, Tina, etc. -- and paired them with neutrals for this pattern. But even with lots of Kaffes, it was really blah. Can you imagine? Yes, it was!! So I thought, "What would Kaffe do to spiffy it up?" Well, of course, he would have tossed all the neutrals, the whites, creams, beiges, grays, and inserted more Kaffes!!!! Which is what I did, and it turned out exactly right. In fact, I loved the the way the colors played with each other so much -- mustard, cinnamon, lavender, taupe, aqua, purple -- I decided to make another quilt using those colors.
Then came my second favorite part, rummaging through my quilt books to see where I would use said colorway. Several years ago, I made a Karen Stone pattern, "Mississippi Wheel of Fortune" quilt, and it's one of my most favorite. So that's what I would do. I pulled lots and lots of hand-dyes, batiks, plain and fancy fabrics that would make up another quilt with these colors.
Wait! What? Make up another quilt with these colors? What the?? I already have a quilt that I love with these colors. I'm 67 years old. I don't have time to make duplicates, girlfriend. However, as I was going through my stash looking for "that Kaffe colorway" I ran across this piece.
Not my colors, not even close. I'm usually drawn to sunny, warm, tropical colors, and this is not. But it spoke to me. You understand, right? Our fabrics speak to us quilters, and if you're not a quilter and are still here, please know it's not a bad thing, or a weird thing, it's just how we do business. So I started to pull new fabrics. Pastel fat quarters I bought a few months ago because I didn't have any (which I consider the very best reason to buy fabric, after #1: I loved it!). Some dots and stripes. And bits of orange -- see that tiny bit down at the bottom? Just right!
But while I was thinking "Cinco deMayo" (by Karen Stone also), I just wasn't completely sold. So here we go again -- stop, reverse, do a 180, change of plan! Lady Liberty Goes to Hawaii, yeah! I love the pattern, and while I know I'll change around the blocks, that's where I'm headed this week.
Now, I have to go arrange fabrics, start putting them into piles for each block, and copying foundations and cutting pieces. I'm so motivated, ready, eager to get going on this!!! Kinda like I was last week when I pulled out my UFO kit for "Rancher's Daughters." Or this week when I gathered my hand-dyes for a Ricky Tims' Rhapsody. Yeah, like that. Except this time, I'm really, really going to make this quilt! The others will simply have to get back in line and wait awhile longer.
Great post! I have some fun stuff going too! It's the BEST feeling!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Sounds like you have lots of plans. Of course, I often pull fabrics out, cuddle them, look through magazines for the right pattern...and then put them in a stack or back in the cupboard and often don't even get around to making them.
ReplyDeleteAt a recent workshop with Pepper Cory, she pulled that exact Kaffe fabric out of my scraps as the inspiration fabric. And I love it, love it, love it. I'll be posting a picture as soon as I finish quilting it. Have fun!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love that focus fabric. It's not my colors, but, I'd use that piece. It does 'speak'.
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