In this absolutely stunning book Kaffe Fassett shows how natural and man made geometric shapes have inspired his quilt designs. There are 23 amazing quilts which cater for all abilities and tastes along with step-by-step instructions for making each of them. As well as this being a fabulous quilt book it also doubles up as a great coffee table book absolutely full of eye candy!
To celebrate the publication, STC Craft kicked off a really exciting quilt-along on April 13th. What makes this really exciting is that it is your chance to show Kaffe what you’re doing and to get feedback from him and co-author Liza Prior Lucy!!
I’m giving it a go and have chosen my project. It’s really easy to get involved in if you fancy joining me!
Firstly you need to decide what project you’d like to work on.
You can either make the Yellow Potpourri quilt from the book as they are very generously offering a free pdf download of the pattern, you could work on one of the other stunning quilts featured in the book, or you could get creative could choose a project of your own inspired by the shapes and colors around you. It’s your choice!
You can then join the SSSQ Quilt-Along with Kaffe Facebook group where you can share your progress with the other members by uploading photos to the group album so that Kaffe and Liza can see what you’re up to and comment on the images of your quilts.
Be sure to visit the blog on the first Tuesday of every month for fresh inspiration and wisdom from both Kaffe and Liza., and visit their website all the information you need!
We caught up with Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy to ask them some questions:
How did the idea come about for the quilt-along?
The fabulous Abrams Publicity and Marketing team came up with the idea. They are younger than us and understand the world of Facebook and blogging better than we do. It has turned out to be a real pleasure for us to learn these new ways to communicate with quiltmakers.
Have you ever made a quilt as part of a quilt-along?
No, never.
What advantages do you see of being involved in a quilt-along?
We love the way quiltmakers can show their creations and how they support each other with comments and suggestions. It is a virtual quilting bee.
Do you have any tips as to how people can get the most out of it?
I wish more people would post questions and ideas. It seems that few make comments unless there is a photo to respond to. It would be nice to have more conversations.
Tell us about some of the projects that people are making - which ones have caught your eye?
What has really delighted us is how the quilters are doing their own thing and not doing exact duplicates of our quilts. It is thrilling to think that an idea in one of our books launches quilters to take off in a new direction.
Do you know how many people are involved in the quilt-along?
There are about 275 at the moment.
Quilt-alongs foster a great sense of community and brings people together from around the world. How important do you think this is for the crafting world?
We see this as a way of going global and it is exciting. The internet has changed everything for us. Our first book was produced before email, before digital photography. We had to rely on the mail system and long distance phone calls between the UK and the US to communicate and work on the book. Eventually we got cameras, email accounts, etc, and that improved how we could work together. But we could still only teach 20-30 people in a day.
Now the whole world is at our fingertips and we see the future of the crafting community online.
What are you enjoying the most about watching peoples progress on the Facebook page?
We have especially enjoyed the couple of quilters who have showed their design walls and the progress they are making with their quilts day by day. We would love to see more of this.
What are your favourite quilts from the book?
Liza: My favourite is Haze Kilim. It was an idea I had from the very beginning and couldn’t pull off effectively until Kaffe developed the right stripes and palette.
Kaffe: I love the Bounce and Stripe Scape. Of course, you could ask me tomorrow and get a totally different answer. I think the same goes for Liza. We really love all the quilts in this book.
Describe an average day in your lives.
Liza: Kaffe is 5 hours ahead and has usually put in several hours painting, knitting and working on various commissions before I get up. I call him most mornings and we discuss the quilt projects I will be sewing. Most days pictures fly back and forth in email. I sew or cut fabric 2-6 hours each day.
Kaffe: That sounds about right! When we are together, we put up 2 huge design walls in Liza’s living room and Liza cuts patches and works out the geometry while I place the fabrics on the walls until the pattern is just right. Rarely is any sewing done while we are together.
As children what did you want to be when you grew up?
Kaffe: I wanted to be actor and dancer and artist.
Liza: I wanted to make stuff, although I studied to be a clinical psychologist.
How many quilts do you actually own and how do you store them?
Akkk! We have so many. We have absolutely no idea how many. A good guess is 200 between the two of us. We each store the quilts in our homes, folded on shelves. They are kept out of the sun. Neither of us smoke or use air fresheners and our homes are quite dry so the quilts don’t pick up any odors.
What’s next?
Another book!! Right now we are intrigued by an idea we have to use the woven range of fabrics, the shots and stripes only. Stay tuned.
Fancy joining us?
I'd love to see what you came up with with all wovens. I'll stay tuned. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks FlossyBlossy, I've been loving being a part of this on facebook, and it's wonderful to visit the different sites and gain more insight into the world of Kaffe and Liza and their incredible creativity. I too am always on the lookout for anything new from the Westminster crew! xo
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